Forgive thy enemy
by Brythespy
Summary: A pack of demon-controlled wolves are threatening to interrupt the quiet lives of Nome's human and canine settlers. This pack has traveled all around Alaska, and were alone responsible for hundreds of deaths around Alaska. Balto and an OC share dreams two nights in a row about their loved ones dying. Love b-NOT ENOUGH SPACE. READ BETTER INTRO ON 1ST CHAP PLEASE! :)
1. Beginning Intro

**First chapter is info.**

**STORY STARTS ON CHAPTER TWO! :)**

**Summary:**

* * *

A pack is taken control of by an evil wolf. He follows teachings of Amarok rather than Aniu. The pack has traveled all around northern and western Alaska, they were alone responsible for over 100 human deaths in the upper northwest territory of Alaska, using the blizzards and erasing evidence, they usually got away with it. Now the pack was stationed dangerously close to Nome. He views Domesticated Dogs as the biggest abomination the humans have ever brought to wolf kind. And with that, Nehalem vowed to kill any Human, or Dog he saw, and by extension, everyone in his pack agreed to do so.

Balto and Siku share the same dream for 2 nights in a row, in the dream they are taken control of something and forced to do terrible deeds. Balto ignores it and him and Siku fill in on the mail run for two missing dogs. While they're gone, the evil pack invades Nome and kills someone...

Apart from the impending doom, love between the characters strengthens, we learn about a new OC, and she and Kodi fall in love, and express it in-front of the entire town. Balto and Steele become friends. We learn about Siku (the OC) and her father, and go back in time to the day she was born, to the day she was forcefully taken from her father at just a month old.

* * *

**I hope you like long stories, because this is one hell of a long one.**

**This story contains, Action scenes, Dream scenes, Love, Romance, Family comfort, Tragedy, Death, Angst, Fighting scenes, Supernatural powers, fantasy aspects, and of course, more into the minds of the characters. **

**If you like any of the above, you'll love this one.**

**STORY STARTS ON CHAPTER TWO!**

**Story setting changes, POV changes, will be either separated by a horizontal line, or by a title.**

Direct writers notes from me will be in BOLD, and don't necessarily have to be in the beginning or end of the chapter.

**Read on, enter the world of... Balto, i guess, but in a mysterious alternate universe where everything is not always a fairy-tale world. Bad things happen, there is not always a happy ending... But, unlike the latter, love prevails, and perhaps the world of Balto can fight through and end up with the happy-ending everyone wants. Who knows? You will, if you read on...**


	2. The gray wolf pup

Steele.

Steele was motionless on the ground under a tree. His blood stained the snow around him and he knew he probably would never leave that spot again. His vision was fading but he could still make out his attacker, a large, and angry, grizzly bear. Steele may have had endurance and skill when it came to mushing, but he put up a pitiful fight against the bear. It wasn't much for the bear to fend off his attacks anyway, but Steele was in no way a match for it. He closed his eyes one last time as he saw the bear lift up a paw, preparing to do the final deed to end Steele's life.

"This is where I end, where my entire life of accomplishment turns meaningless, I only regret that I could not apologize for my egotistical ways". Steele thought.

Almost impatient by the bear taking its time to kill him off, he opened one eye just in time to see the bear being fought off by... Something... His senses blinded by pain, he could not see, smell or hear very much of anything, but he made out a wolf-like animal, it was much smaller than Balto would have been, but for reasons he would never know, he perceived it as the very wolfdog that he has hated his entire life.

"Thank you... Balto" his last thoughts before slipping out of the conscious world. From this point in time, and on, Steele would learn that he had to put his ways behind him, and respect Balto for his deeds.

But it wasn't Balto, was it? No, Balto woke up right as Steele slipped into a dreamless sleep.

Balto.

The clouds overhead looked like the bottom of an ocean. It was chilly, as always, but when the sun chose to peek through, it got hot. So it was another one of those days that would be freezing in the shade, and hot in sunlight.

"What a beautiful day" Balto said with a hint of sarcasm.

He got up to survey the horizon. Balto was awake early today; he went over and sat out on the front of his boat like he does every morning. He was looking and smelling into the distance, his powerful senses reaching the town, along the far coast and to the other side of the plain where it met dense forest. He wasn't smelling for just anything, but was honing his senses on Jenna.

Luckily his vision wasn't one of the things to use against him to show his age. His sense of vision and smell were just as good as they were when he was a young pup, and because of his half-wolf heritage he could use his nose to "see" things that his eyes can't. He "watched" as Jenna and Rosie walked from the store back home, he loved her scent, it was a scent he would not forget for all of eternity. His eyes closed and enjoyed the cool Alaskan air flow through his scruffy coat as he continued to sniff about.

Balto chuckled as he knew he no longer had to steal her scent from afar. He could actually go up and talk to her, and nuzzle her as they kissed, to feel her fur against his and not forgetting being able to take in her scent at point blank as it stuns him. He smiled, not believing how it was possible, how he accomplished something that made Jenna his mate, and lets not forget his six beautiful pups. His smile grew larger as he began to mentally plan his trip to Jenna when suddenly something foul hit his nose like a kick to the muzzle.

Steele.

The smell was faint, but for some reason to Balto it felt like Steele was hiding right behind his boat. Balto waddled over to investigate, but when he got there, Steele was nowhere to be found. Balto took another whiff of the air then realized that the scent was much farther away, towards the forest behind his boat.

"Better not be playing any tricks" Balto said to himself. He turned to head back, when a change of wind brought new smells along with Steele's. Blood, fear and... A bear... He froze, Steele was defiantly hurt, and he was almost sure there was a bear involved. Balto hesitated for a second before bolting off in the direction of the dense forest that surrounds the town. As he neared the source, not 100 meters away, a few new, faint smells appeared. He didn't think much of them, but it was enough for his brain to make a note of it and classify it as "wolf". When he finally got there, he traced the smell to the other side of a tree; he slowly looked around it, knowing it would be a horrific site.

Sure enough, there he was. Steele, well, whatever was left of him.

Steele was as good as dead, his body completely destroyed, Balto counted, 4.. 5.. No at least 8 broken bones and those were just from what he could see. He had a huge bite mark, and a missing chunk of flesh removed from his back. Numerous scratches and bite marks all over the rest of his body. his muzzle was ripped at the nose, exposing his teeth and gums fully. He brought his paw to Steele and gently nudged him over, then felt his heartbeat. 4 seconds passed before it finally got back in a steady rate, for seconds until it stopped again... For a few seconds. Balto shivered, a small part of his cruel side was smiling at the sight of the good-as-dead asshole who tormented him all his life, but the much larger compassionate side - the one Jenna fell in love with - told him he needed to help. First things first, he would have to... sanitize what wounds he could reach so that it didn't get infected... The very thought of having to lick Steele, even to potentially save his life, made him vomit. But it was due in part because of the smell and the shock of seeing Steele's mangled body. He looked around, halfway hoping nobody was around to see this, and then he started. He began licking the larger gashes and cuts, then the bite marks, checking to make sure there was no sign of rabies; thankfully the bear didn't have it. He stopped and held back his stomach after realizing again that he was licking Steele. But had to return to finish his aid, his licking lead to Steele's head and to his muzzle, where Balto's worst fear at the moment happened, Steele momentarily woke in shock and saw Balto licking his muzzle! He was instantly knocked back out, possibly due to his left front leg all but completely destroyed. Balto was surprised but continued what he was doing.

"Great, just what I need, Steele recovering and spreading rumors that Balto was sneaking kisses to the love of his dreams while he was unconscious" Balto muttered. A sound came from the trees behind him; Balto's ears perked up in response, but quickly figured it was nothing, then sat and stared at Steele for a second before walking off to the left. He grabbed a branch that had leaves and many sticks on it, a veritable sled, then brought it over to Steele and, after gently tossing his body into it, dragged the "sled" off towards town.

"Clever, Balto". Said an anonymous being that watched them the entire time, and Steele's real savior.

Balto couldn't shake the feeling that someone was following him as he dragged Steele towards town. 10 min past until he reached the forest edge. The feeling shook off as soon as he left the closed forest and entered an open stretch of land roughly 2 km to reach the small settlement of Nome.

Steele's savior sat and watched, it was a female wolf pup, not older than a year. If she was going to talk to Balto, she would have to enter town...

* * *

Siku.

She had just awoken from another frightful night that consisted of waking up every hour or so at the slightest sound, every time fear caused her to wait even longer before falling back asleep. Siku watched from behind cover as a large black and white malamute entered the forest. He was muttering something... something about stealing his fame and glory... And his girl, then he mentioned Balto. She instantly perked up, listening closer.

Siku was little more than a pup at 11 months old, but she was not a dog, she was a wolf. A wolf that was abandoned mere weeks after she was born. Sound familiar, huh? Her fur was almost a pure white over her body, mostly being puppy fur, but had grey patches of fur on her chest and belly. Her muzzle also had a darker grey shade. But her eyes were a mysterious difference, her left eye has Blue pupils but her right eye was Brown. She had nobody in this world, and she rarely ever saw other wolves or dogs in her life. So this was interesting to her. The malamute stopped at a tree and looked around for a few seconds then... he started crying. It was a sort of angry, yet desperate sort of sobbing. Siku felt like she should go and ask the dog what was wrong, but of course instantly retracted herself; after all she didn't know anything. Something else approached from the opposite side of Steele, it was a small brown bear cub.

"Go away disgusting excuse for a life; I will kill you, right here, right now if you don't get the _fuck_ out of here!" Steal barked, obviously angry that someone saw him crying.

The bear cub ran off in fear. Siku now knew that this dog wasn't too friendly. Steele pulled himself together and started walking off again, Siku followed secretly. She was fascinated by seeing another of her species not knowing, much less caring of their different genetics. She was a wolf, and he was a pure-bred Alaskan Malamute. Two different species from two very different worlds, but she didn't know any better so she followed him and accidentally knocked some snow off of a low lying branch. This got Steele's attention and he zipped around and walked over to her to investigate. She did nothing but drop down and huddle in fear at the possibility that she was going to die right then and there. Before Steele even caught eye of the creature, he was literally thrown off a good 10 feet into a tree, by a bear...

**Mama bear.**

Accompanied by her cub, she was furious with the dog, and he stood nothing against it. He tried to run off but was grabbed by the back right Leg and tossed into the air carelessly by the bear. It caught Steele with its teeth, sinking 3 inch fangs into Steele's lower back, causing him to let out horrifying sounds, he was released by the bear and tried yet again to run away, only to be rammed into and then shoved meters away. The bear continued to "play" with this potential threat to her young. Carelessly ripping flesh off, biting and breaking Steele. The ordeal lasted 30 minutes, and Siku could do nothing back hide and watch as she cried at the horrific scene happening in front of her.

She wouldn't let anymore happen, almost instantly the tiny white wolf sprang forward and latched all teeth into the back of the bear's neck. The bear was in shock and bellowed out a loud long growl-like scream of pain. Siku continued her attack, taking advantage of the bear's futile efforts of shaking her off, to spring upwards and again sink her teeth into the bear's muzzle. She was thrown off the bear and finally met her paws to the ground, before jumping yet again at the bear, this time biting into its ankle causing the bear to fall down. This proved fatal as Siku bit down hard on its neck, the bear let out a cry of pain with his last breath. Siku's eyes shot open and she whimpered at the sudden torrent of copper-tasting blood. She backed off and took a second to be both proud, and angry that she killed a bear by herself! She didn't take the time to check on Steele, and ran back to her hiding place.

She returned to her spot from earlier and smiled. "I took on a bear by myself!" She thought. Her parents would be so proud, while at the same time very angry. Her smile faded at the thought that her parents were no longer around, but enough tears have been shed about it over the past months, so she easily put the thoughts aside. She didn't know what else to do, go and check on the downed dog? Should she run for help? Or just sit there staring, She was already doing that. A smell entered her nose, a familiar smell. Balto. Her heart pounded fast as her favorite wolf came and checked on Steele. She always liked Balto, for reasons that will be explained later. She giggled as Balto looked around, and for a split second, right at her, then proceeded to lick Steele's wounds. Then she watched Balto drag him off on a makeshift sled.

"Clever, Balto" she muttered to herself.

* * *

Balto

Balto couldn't shake the feeling that someone was following him as he dragged Steele towards town. 10 min past until he reached the forest edge. The feeling shook off as soon as he left the closed forest and entered an open stretch of land and ice roughly 2 km to reach the small settlement of Nome.

Balto ran past his boat and headed into town, a quick sniff of the air told him that people were up and busy now. Past the homes of various canines that Balto would recently called them friends. It has been a month or so, but people still came up to greet Balto, still thankful for the wolfdog saving their children. This time was different, a small boy ran up to pat balto, but he was stopped by his mother. They both watched as Balto ran past them, ignoring them, and dragging a motionless dog on a sled-like branch.

"That Balto, never ceases to amaze me, he's still a hero, doing hero things..." The mother said to her son.

"I want a dog like Balto!" the boy cried.

"Heh, I don't think we'll find a wolfdog quite like Balto, dear." The mother and son turned back to their home.

Balto neared his destination, the Vet's office. Stomach still a bit sick after the earlier event, he curled up a bit, then let go of the sled, and with it, Steele. The Vet's office was still closed. Dr. Osnik had no set business hours, he seemed to open up whenever he awoke, which today was a bit late for Balto's liking. He barked and scratched at the door, then, remembering how he saw a cat do, he turned around and beat the door with his back leg. This got Osnik's attention.

The man sat up in his bed, wiping the sleep from his eyes. He was surprisingly well rested, and knowing what the signals at his door meant, he quickly got up and went to open the door. Still wearing night clothes, he winced at the site before him. He knelt down to pat Balto, and examine the victim.

"What have you brought me boy?" The man said in a deep heavy german accent. Balto's reply was a low whimper and a tilt of his head to the left, and raised his right ear up.

"Haha, Balto still saves lives would 'ya look at that!" His mood left from happiness when he got a closer look at the unconscious dog.

"Man this guy isn't in good shape… I know you wouldn't do this Balto, but… What could have? Oh never-mind I've wasted enough time as-is." He went inside to grab a stretcher-type device to carry Steele inside. Balto let out a relieved sigh as the vet pat him again, then closed the door, carrying Steele inside. Balto didn't stick around long, but he passed Steele's owners as they entered the Vet's office. The owners were told that Balto was dragging Steele into town by the mother from earlier and they still did not rule out that Balto was the one to attack Steele, but with no evidence, they simply ignored him. Balto did the same; after-all he still had his mind set on visiting Jenna, plus to tell her of this event.

* * *

Siku.

Siku sat at the edge of the forest, she watched Balto bring Steele to Nome, when he was out of sight behind a faraway building, Siku brought up her courage and was set on going to town… For the first time since…

She mentally scolded herself for thinking about it, and took a breath. Her plan was to run as fast as she possibly can, and low, using the hills to cover her approach to the town. She breathed out a long quiet lung full of air then ran off. She aimed in-between two of the higher hills, which cleared about 400m from the trip to the town. She peeked out and looked for her next destination, this time a small bush that was just enough to cover her. She bolted towards it with success. She was less than a kilometer from the town now. There was nothing between her and the town but Ice now. The huge lazy riverbed of the summer has now frozen over with ice that blended with the snow of any islands that formed in the river. She stayed behind the bush for a few minutes, her mind not coming up with any good ideas. She peered towards town for any Humans or dogs, and after learning that this left side of town was completely empty, she bolted off towards it. As she got closer, she centered her destination as a small alleyway between two houses. The 900m or so approach was closed within minutes by the wolf; her short legs did the job of running just as well as someone like Steele would for that matter. She entered the alley and looked around for a hiding place. She snuggled under a table that was somewhat closed off by the snowfall. Siku lay down comfortably on her paws, she figured that it was best to wait until Balto was alone to talk to him, and it shouldn't be long at all until Balto would come alone from the Vet's office and walk right through this alley.

Balto.

Balto was still caught by the townspeople before he was left alone. This time a man gave him some leftover Bacon from breakfast. He couldn't resist, both because he was hungry, and because it'd just be rude. He carefully ate the bacon strips from the man's hand and gave him a nuzzle and a lick. The man returned a pat to his head and let him off. Balto did like all the new attention he was getting, people liked him being there, it was nothing like the old days. If he could recall, that same man once kicked him before he ran off towards his boat. He trotted off towards Jenna's house, he couldn't wait to meet her. He only wished he had something to give her, but shook his head and continued walking.  
"4th street. I wonder why such a small town would bother naming the streets." Balto thought. He didn't pay much attention to the streets anyways. He took an alleyway shortcut, one that he rarely took. It wasn't everyday that he was coming to her house from the Vet's side of town, it was usually a straight line from Balto's boat to Jenna's home.

Balto stopped halfway through the alley. He was being watched, and he knew it, his senses tingling, telling him that something was near, and was hidden. He let out an involuntary growl, it was instinct, and even though he was sure whatever was hiding probably wouldn't harm him. The hidden "threat" was hiding under a table on the far side of the alley; Balto approached it in "kill" mode. Head, ears and tail down, Lips raised to show huge wolf dog teeth.

"I know you're there" he said through his teeth, maintaining a low growl.

There was no response, Balto inched closer, to the point where he would have been able to take a snap at the being had it not been sheltered by snow and table. His aggressive stance weakened when he heard a tiny whimper come from the source. The snow gave and slid down a bit revealing a scared to death wolf pup. Any form of aggression Balto had was now absent.

"Hey, hey, hey, I won't hurt you, I'm not like the other dogs." Balto knew she wouldn't just believe him, he know all too well that strangers couldn't be trusted. To his surprise the wolf pup uncurled, and stared into Balto's eyes, as if trying to say something without using words. Balto was lost in her eyes, her blue and brown pupils were a rare oddity but it complemented to this wolf's beauty.

"Uh, hello to you too." Balto shook his head, he had no idea why he replied that way, the wolf hadn't said a thing yet!  
He put the thoughts away then assisted the wolf in leaving her hiding place by swiping away the small hill of snow that accumulated and formed her protective "shield". The wolf moved back a bit, but then ignored everything and walked out to Balto.

Before him was the most beautiful thing he's set his eye's upon, and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why? He had no desire at all to "mate" with this wolf, but he was dumbfounded by her beauty nonetheless. Another thought popped up in his head. Something told him that he needed to protect this wolf from any and all dangers, he needed to hold the wolf close to him and fend off anything that would threaten it. Both sides in some sort of trance, they moved together and gave, what could best be described as a "dog hug".

"WOAH, WOAH, WOAH." Balto screamed in his mind, what the hell was he doing? Not only was this wolf years younger than him, he had a mate! But Balto never felt like he was betraying Jenna in anyway. He had no attraction to the wolf, but he couldn't deny that he loved her. Loved her like a daughter, that is. Balto was first to break from the trance as he thought about Jenna, and stepped back. The wolf pretty much fell on her face and it broke her trance as well.

"Who are you?" Balto asked, still shaking his head. The wolf did not speak. Just stared at him with her multi-colored eyes.

"Okay… Where did you come from?" The wolf only nudged her head in the direction of the forest, towards where Balto found Steele.

"Uh-huh, so you can't talk." Balto asked curiously, he turned his head to the left as he heard a familiar sound, Jenna's yipping.

"Sorry, I have to… go now." Everything in Balto's mind told him not to leave this wolf. He fought it and head towards Jenna. He looked over his shoulder to the wolf; she just sat there, with a face of sorrow, and looked towards the ground. Balto let out a sigh and turned back to the wolf.

* * *

Siku

Siku got quite comfortable in her hiding place. She dug a tiny hole to see towards the alley opening, waiting for Balto's arrival. She didn't have to wait long, Balto came striding into the alleyway. She realized she had not planned on how she would confront the wolf-dog. Panicking, she simply decided she'd let him pass and talk to him when she actually know what to say. She lay back down and peered through the hole and watched Balto. She was happy just seeing Balto, but she could not talk to him yet. It seemed as though it wasn't her decision, because Balto was walking right towards her!

"I know you're there!" She heard him say, then she heard him growling. She could do nothing but freeze, fear filled her body at the sight of a huge wolfdog nearing her with teeth the size of her front paws. She drop down and covered her face with both paws, preparing for the worst. Her shaking disturbed part of the snow wall, and it collapsed, exposing her to the open, and to Balto. An huge amount of fear resided when she heard Balto stop growling. She was at a loss of words, she just stared at him, he was amazing, and everything she imagined he would be like up close, so long did she observe him from far away, but she was still trembling in fear.

Balto said things that made no sense to Siku, as her mind was on other things, how would she approach this topic to Balto? How would she even speak to him. His voice was soothing though, it told her that he could be trusted no matter what. Her body loosened and she caught his eyes. For reasons even beyond her, she locked her eyes into his and immediately lost all voluntary thought. She had no idea what was going on. It was like she was reading his mind! That's crazy. She figured she'd been starring too long, so she tried to say "Hello", only to realize she was still silenced by this event.

"Uh, hello to you too." Balto replied, but to what? She didn't say anything, did she? She didn't hear herself say Hello, but she'd got the message through.

Everything in her body told her that she could trust Balto, her mind was full of thoughts, most of them about Balto, the rest about what was going on not too far outside of Nome, and that she'd have to tell him eventually. She couldn't control herself as she watched Balto move the snow out to allow her freedom; she only walked slowly to Balto and rested her head in his chest. Her mind was literally blank at this point. She'd finally touched another wolf-dog, it didn't matter, she'd been so alone for so long. Plus she couldn't fight off the feeling that Balto was her protector, and that she'd have to stay with him always. She loved Balto. But not in the way you'd normally think, it was more, the way a daughter loves her father. Gravity seemed to slip away momentarily before she was reminded of its existence. Balto seemed to had disappeared and she crashed face first into the snow under her. She broke from her train of thought and immediately sat up, watching Balto seem to try and shake his thoughts out of his ears.

"Who are you"? He said in a concerned voice, he was obviously as lost for words as she was. Words were still absent from her mind, she could not answer, though she was screaming it in her mind.

A moment passed then, "Okay… Where did you come from?" She was happy that she could answer this without words, and pointed her muzzle in the direction of the forest.

"Uh-huh, so you can't talk." Balto said as a small smile formed on his face. She loved his smile too. Yipping sounds came from the right as Balto turned his head towards it, she opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by "Sorry, I have to… go now."

Her heart fell as Balto turned and left her, but she would not follow him, he needed to be at full concentration to listen to her anyway. Not really noticing, or caring, her head fell and looked towards the ground, she was a bit frustrated that she didn't talk to him when she got the chance. Balto turned and headed back towards her and she felt her happiness return.

Balto was slightly annoyed by this wolf, here he was inexplicably attracted to, but at the same time not attracted in a "wanting to mate" sort of way, And all the time she barely answered his questions.

"Okay, let's try this again. Slowly, don't worry." He really wanted to know this wolf's name.  
"May I learn your name, please"? Balto tried hard to hide any annoyed sound in the question.

"Siku" The shewolf finally responded. Balto was lost at her voice, she only said one word, but it made memories of her mother's voice pop up in his head, he ignored it and continued at the wolf pup.

"Okay, uh, Siku, would you like to come with me as I talk to my mate, Jenna?" Balto asked very carefully. Siku nodded her head and returned to Balto's side, just a little too close for Balto's comfort. "Good"

"Jenna's going to _love_ this..." he thought as they walked out of the alley.


	3. Holy character development, batman

**I know, I know, a lot of confusing important stuff happens here, but don't worry, the action will start in the next chapter. This is more... Character development, and more explanation on my changes to the Balto universe, everything that happens here will be crucial to how future events will play out. And remember, this was supposed to be chapter 2, and two chapters of character development for a story that I expect will be 10 chapters or more seemed acceptable.**

* * *

Balto, Saba, Jenna and Siku.

Jenna and Saba were playing a friendly game of... Well... "Try and kill each other." Basically the goal was to flip the other over and bite on the neck. A friendly game as long as you don't bite too hard and accidentally killed each other. Jenna was laughing as Saba finally jumped on top of her and went for her neck.

"You win.. Ha.. Ack.. You win Saba" Jenna playfully threw her off, she was about to go for a sneak attack on Saba while she was distracted, then stopped when she realized what Saba was looking at. It was Balto and another strange character, a tiny _female_ wolf puppy. Jenna wasn't the type to be jealous, so it was mostly the fact that it was a wolf, and a rather young one, that was walking pretty much up against her mate, that got her.

"Look at that, my two favorite girls playing together like pups, isn't that just cute." Saba blushed a bit, knowing she wasn't exactly a pup anymore

"Hey I'm almost a year old, I'm not a tiny puppy" Saba tried to be serious, but couldn't fight back the smile on her face.

Jenna looked a bit closer at the wolf pup that remained quiet. Siku answered her question before she could ask it.

"Hello Jenna, my names Siku!" She said proudly, apparently she found her confidence, no longer scared of anything as long as Balto was around.

"Uh, hello Siku" Jenna was still a bit confused. Balto noticed this, but smiled at Jenna's twisted face.

"You're pretty Siku" Saba added.

"Well if I'm pretty, then you're beautiful!" Siku replied, both laughed.

"Say, Saba won't you and Siku go play around, me and Jenna need to talk about... Uh... Kodi." He lied.

"What'd he do now?" Saba obviously caught onto his lie but played along.

"Nvm, let's go see if we can find Kodi, Siku."

"But…" She looked at Balto, his head towering a full foot over hers. "Okay..." Then walked over and followed Saba back through the alley from earlier.

Balto waited until they disappeared around the corner.

"Hey Jenna."

"What?"

"She's cute huh?" Balto smiled, jabbing at Jenna's expense.

"You're funny, who is she? How old is she? Oh, but she is cute I must say."

"I don't know anything other than her name and that she came from the forest" Balto thought for a second. "Siku, that's an interesting name, couldn't have been given to her by any of the packs I know" Balto added.

"She doesn't look older than a year or so, just a pup. I wonder why she's here in town." Jenna seemed to catch onto Balto's thoughts.

"Who knows, I just found her hiding under a table in that alley" he nudged in the direction Siku and Saba went. "I may have scared her shit-less on accident" Balto chuckled.

"She seemed a bit sticky to you."

"I can't lie to you, I feel as though this wolf needs my help, and that I can't leave her. It's a weird complicated thought. I feel like, like she is my own daughter." Balto struggled to say

"I suppose we can't just leave her in the woods, plus she doesn't look too much like a wolf, maybe the town will see her with dogs and think she is also one." Jenna said the walked over to Balto.

She kissed him then suggests they should go check on them.

"Oh and by the way, Steele's dead." Balto joked.

"What? How?" She could shake off her smile as she caught onto Balto's joke.

"I found him as good as dead in the forest, a bear attacked him." Balto said, hiding his smile now.

"Oh dear, what did you do? Was the bear still there?" Jenna was a bit concerned.

"We'll I brought him to the vet. And it was a bit weird, but the bear was nowhere to be found, a bear just doesn't kill it's victims, Steele wouldn't have been unrecognizable if this bear attack was normal. Something must have fought it off." Balto trailed off at the end, seemingly piecing together the info in his mind, he took a whiff of the air, finding Saba and Siku on the other side of the building.

"What is it?" Jenna was puzzled at Balto's look.

"I think... I think Siku was the one who fought off the bear.." Balto was surprised at how blind he was. "I noticed her smell the whole time I was in the forest I ignored it for the most part, it was very faint anyways. And she did have the smell of blood on her just now."

"You're right, I did _kill_ that bear" Balto jumped and turned to meet Siku, Saba and Kodi.

Balto, Jenna, Saba and Kodi too had a stupid looking surprised face as they stared at Siku.

"What? A tiny pup like you fought off a bear _alone_?" Saba asked.

"Yeah I guess I did." She said, still facing Balto.

Balto was speechless, even he needed help last time he faced a bear.

"I had to do something, I lost my chance to help you when the bear could have killed you all those months ago, but luckily Jenna was there to help." Siku seemed happy she was finally able to say that. Still being stared at by everyone, she let out a long yawn, and Balto noticed dry blood around the edges of her teeth.

"What do you mean?" Balto asked curiously.

"It's a long story Balto, I watched as you fought off the bear, after Jenna was hurt helping you, you made a sled similar to the one you used to drag the black and white dog off earlier."

"So you were spying on me since last winter?" He wasn't exactly mad at her, more, very very interested in what the hell was going on.

"I'd love to tell you everything later, but I'm really sleepy, I did kinda fight off a bear, plus I didn't sleep well last night." She said then let out another long yawn.

Balto grinned then suggested, "Kodi won't you walk her to my boat, be sure to explain to Boris that she's to be welcome to sleep there and to watch over her. There's a blanket there, you can sleep under that and help yourself to some food if you're hungry. Oh and don't eat the goose." Balto smiled at the end, it faded when he thought further about how this wolf has apparently been watching him for a long time now.

"Alright dad, come on Siku" Balto noticed the obvious enthusiasm in his voice, and smiled at the small thought that went through his mind. "They aren't exactly far apart in age from each other" he thought as he watched them walk off.

"Wow" all Balto said.

"You've got a stalker papa" Saba joked

"Yeah he does, why would she secretly spy on you" Jenna asked, in a rhetorical way as she turned to Balto.

"I don't know, we still haven't learned much, other than that she's obviously a good fighter" Balto chuckled. "So far she's doing a good job of raising more questions than answering them"

Jenna nodded in agreement.

"I suppose I should go check on how Steele's doing" Balto suggested

"I'll come" Jenna added then walked up to Balto.

"I'm going to go find Kirby and Dusty, can't wait to tell her that her boyfriend just walked off with cute little female wolf." She said excitedly and quickly ran off.

Balto and Jenna head off back through the alleyway yet again, Towards the vet.

* * *

Kodi and Siku.  
Love?

Kodi walked slightly behind Siku, he felt the awkwardness between them. She was obviously not happy about leaving Balto; she was quiet through the edge of town.

Kodi failed at making an attempt at breaking the silence, so he just looked over and examined every feature of her. It took him a second to realize just how small this wolf was, especially since the wind flattened her coat a bit. From far away she could probably be mistaken for an arctic fox. Her tail was log and full, reaching down but hovering an inch off other ground. Kodi bent his own tail down to see if it touched the ground, to his surprise it did. Everything else about this wolf was perfect. Legs a little short for a wolf, but met perfectly sized paws, which were already as large, or even larger than Kodi's as he looked down to examine his own. Even Kodi's part wolf heritage didn't give him huge paws, but he was proud that they were the biggest on the sled team, and that helped him run long distances through snow with ease. He looked further up to her head. Ears were tipped with dark gray fur. They were twitching about at every sound, Kodi found this a bit cute, in fact this wolf was beautiful. He didn't care though, he was with Dusty. But he couldn't deny that he was more attracted to Siku than Dusty. He slightly frowned at this thought, and looked to the right, away from the wolf.

"Something on your mind?" Siku asked, causing Kodi to snap out of it and shake his head. Siku noticed the resemblance between him and his father, they both tended to try and shake thoughts from their minds.

"Not really, just thinking about pulling the line." Kodi lied.

"What is that?" Siku asked with genuine curiosity, she still didn't know anything about how dogs lived.

"We'll it's just what I.. We call when we are pulling the sled to deliver the U.S Mail" he couldn't hide the pride in saying this; he's said it that way since he joined the team.

"You look like you can run fast"

"Yeah.." Kodi didn't know how to respond to that, it meant that she saw him at some point, but she has yet to even look at him so far.

The terrible silence started again, Kodi found himself staring at her again, he was staring at her head a lot. Her tiny pointed muzzle was perfect unlike Dusty's that resembled Balto's muzzle more. He compared many other features of this wolf vs. his girlfriend. But those eyes, how they were perfectly different and unique, one side was blue and the other brown. Eventually it got to the point where Dusty was _hideous _in comparison. He cursed his own mind thinking that way but again just couldn't shake it.

As they got to the last hill towards the boat, Kodi must not have been paying much attention, his feet caught a rock and he let out a yelp before falling down, and into Siku, both rolling down the hill until they come to a stop at the bottom. The event landed Kodi on top of her, ignoring all logic he stared into her eyes, he loved them. Siku did the same, both canines locked into each other's trance. Kodi still aware of everything he examined her under him. He couldn't believe he was given the opportunity to see something so beautiful. Both of her ears flopped down as she looked stupidly up at Kodi and smiled. Kodi thought it was cute how she looked at him, and the way her ears freely fell. He slowly bent down and licked her nose and she returned it a second later. They stay like this for about a minute, exchanging affectionate actions and giggles coming from Siku.

"Oh, ho! Look like I find you at bad time, yes?" Kodi jumped off of her and looked at Boris, left eyebrow raised slightly.

"We fell" Kodi explained, not really caring to explain any further.

Boris looked over at the wolf that didn't show the least embarrassment that Kodi did. She looked at Boris in return and said in a tone full of confidence. "Hello Boris, I'm Siku" then went to match Boris' outstretched wing with her muzzle allowing Boris to pet her a bit.

"My my you are young one, why were you in town? Surely a tiny wolf might be scared of the humans" Boris didn't like saying the last word.

Finally Kodi found his head and talked.

"Balto said I should bring her here, she's tired.. Or something." As if right on cue he looked over at Siku and she let out another yawn, showing off her teeth. He even liked her teeth, they added a bit if fierceness to a tiny seemingly innocent wolf. Boris stepped back a bit at the sight of her teeth, which were not only huge for her tiny form, but huge compared to a dogs.

"Heh, well let Uncle Boris show you where to get comfortable." Siku smiled and followed Boris into the boat, she stopped and turned to Kodi, who also turned and already started heading back. "Kodi, thanks for walking me here" she said, half still unknowing what to say really, everything that happened all today was new to her.

"Yeah, no prob" Kodi said less awkward now, his voice showed another sign, a hint of sadness.

Siku detected this but didn't know what to do about it, so she just offered "I guess I'll see you when I wake up?"

"Yeah you bet" Kodi seemed a bit more enthusiastic. Siku had nothing else to say so she stared blankly at the wall of the boat before walking up the plank to follow Boris. Kodi just let out a shallow sigh and walked off.

"So what does a wolf like you do not being in the forest?" Boris asked as he prepared a water dish for her and moved Balto's blanket over to her.

"Well, I had to talk to Balto. Something... Is going to happen soon, bad things" she was so relieved to finally be able to tell someone, anyone.

"Oh? What kind of bad things?" Boris sound a bit more curious and even slightly worried.

"I can't explain it now; I'll talk to Balto and everyone later."

"Of course young one, you look like you've just run a marathon with tiny legs of yours" he said noticing how tired she looked. Siku just sigh and turned her head.

"I'm sorry Boris, I'll explain everything to you first thing when I awaken." Siku thought she might have offended the goose in some way.

"No matter young one, you need your rest, ignore nagging thoughts in brain, and rest easy." He put Balto's blanket over her and soon after jumped down to the lower deck. His voice was so full of caring, and niceness, Siku felt almost as safe here, then when she was with Balto. She smiled finally being able to rest, and comfortably too. This smile died off right away at the news she'd have to tell everyone soon. Unable to shake the thoughts away, she got up to drink some ice cold water, that she was amazed hadn't frozen solid by now. She watched her reflection for a second before drinking a good half of the bowl. She returned to her "bed" and quickly realized it wasn't easy to get the blanked back on her. She struggled for a good 5 minutes before letting out a soft whimper of defeat. She just couldn't bend her neck back far enough to bring the blanket over her back. It was pretty cold, for the first time, well, in a long time, the cold bothered her. Even though it was spring, the evening air was crisp as it was a few months ago as she watched Balto pass by searching for something. What was this mysterious wolf doing in the middle of a blizzard? Siku stopped her thoughts and tried to slip off into sleep, still shivering every so often. Her eyes shot open as the soothing voice of Boris filled her ears.

"Here, let me get that." Then Boris returned the blanket to its former position covering her whole body, even her head.

Siku didn't say a word but smiled in thanks. Boris smiled and turned and jumped back down to his deck. "What a nice goose, I can tell he did a great job raising Balto." Her thoughts then led to Kodi. She missed him, she might have liked him, but then again, she wouldn't know what to do about it.

Siku was in a deep sleep, dreams that haunted her for months returned. She was running, yipping and whimpering in her sleep. Boris was wide awake anyway and came to her side to comfort her. He knew all too well how to deal with a puppy having a bad dream. He remembers the countless times he sat by Balto's side when he had his nightmares. Boris soothed Siku's dreams by singing a peaceful steady song in his native language and gently stroking down her back with his wings, flattening the fur that instantly popped back up. The inaudible Russian tune worked wonders on her mind. She stopped her whimpering and her legs finally rested. She was at peace.

Boris smiled but then jumped at a sound behind him, he expected Balto to be back by now, but it wasn't Balto, it was Kodi. Boris was quiet as he watched Kodi walk across the boat deck. A look of pure despair on Kodi's face as he focused on his paws moving one in front of the other. He stopped and sat down next to Boris, obviously broken down. Naturally Boris put a wing around Kodi. He just sniffled, but wasn't crying, no, he was too proud to be crying for... What though? Boris didn't dare pry it out of him yet. He watched Kodi stare at the sleeping pup named Siku. He was staring at her but wasn't seeing her. It was a blank stare, as if looking at an invisible entity in front of him. Boris seemed to offer him a chance to say what was on his mind, he ignored it, got up and walked over to Siku and lay down next to her. Boris pieced together the evidence and remembered the moment Siku and Kodi had earlier that day. He just shook his head and sat next to them, now having to comfort both puppies. Kodi soon too fell asleep and Boris smiled as Kodi rested a single paw across Siku's back. Boris understood everything, the old white goose experienced much in his day, he knew Kodi must have only felt comfortable around Siku, for whatever the reason be, Kodi walked all the way to this boat at night just to "cuddle" with Siku. Boris thought about what would have put Kodi in such a terribly depressing state. He knew all too well.

* * *

Saba, Sab(a)tage

"I'm going to go find Kirby and Dusty, can't wait to tell her that Kodi just walked off with a cute young female wolf!" Saba said excitedly, Balto just shot her a playful look before walking off with Jenna. Saba ran off with a slight smile, intending to joke around with Dusty for a while before telling her it was a joke. She ran past her house, sniffing for the others, she hadn't really seen them since they got back from the mail run. She figured they were all at home resting. Finally she found Kaltag who long retired, was also Dusty's father.

"Hey Kaltag... Sir, have you seen Dusty anywhere?" Saba asked, not exactly looking at him, she was still looking around.

"Nope, her and the others went to the butchers shop, he was giving away his surplus of food like every week, you could imagine half the towns dogs are there heh heh" Kaltag smiled, he had already gotten his teeth into a warm juicy steak earlier. Saba on the other hand had no idea.

"Aw, why didn't anyone tell me?" Saba said.

"Well he didn't wait for the mail team to get back so-" Kaltag was interrupted by Saba who just ran off as she caught sight of Kirby and Diego.

"Oh, sorry sir, bye" she yelled back.

"Heh kids." Kaltag smiled and shook his head.

Saba almost ran into Kirby as she ran full speed to him. This startled Kirby who didn't see her coming and he instinctively barked at her.

"Holy crap, Saba!" Kirby said, but didn't hide his smile. He had grown to like Saba as his sled teammate like a sister.

"What's the big rush for Saba?" Diego said from behind him.

Saba stared stupidly at her brother, Diego, then back to Kirby.

"Where's Dusty?" Saba said ignoring both.

"I don't know, she wanted to talk to Kodi but she saw something and ran off, I haven't seen her since." Kirby explained, Saba just continued looked at him with the same stupid face.

"Well where were you guys at?" Saba asked.

"We were by the coast, not too far from Balto's boat. Dusty said she saw Kodi from far off, I couldn't make him out, he was at least a mile off." Kirby smiled at the sight of Saba. She wanted to tell her secret so bad.

"Wait, she saw Kodi? Did she see, uh, anything else?" Saba was leading to something.

"Not that I know of, she ran off alone Togo meet him, we just let her go, figuring she'd want to be alone with her.. Boyfriend." Kirby said the last word as he spotted Kodi over Saba's shoulder. He didn't say anything though. Saba had a secret about him and he wouldn't try to ruin it. He signaled Kodi to hide, he got it instantly, training together on the mail run gave them almost telepathic abilities with their signals, Though this time Kirby was using it to his own advantage this time.

"Oh, then she saw something and just ran off. She told us not to follow her, she wanted to be alone, we figured she got in some kind of argument with Kodi, sonar didn't dare pry." Kirby continued.

"Oh, well, Kodi is walking with someone." Saba said mysteriously.

Kirby and Diego were at full attention to her words, almost at the same time both said "who?"

"Well, it's a cute, young, _FEMALE_, wolf" Saba explained, putting emphasis on "female", then giggled. Kirby and Diego gasped, was Kodi really messing around with another dog... Er, wolf.

"Wolf?" Diego finally asked.

"Yeah, Balto found this strange wolf somewhere and t looks like Kodi has taken a liking to her hehe, he didn't exactly hesitate to walk her to Balto's boat."

All 3 put the pieces together almost at the same time.

"Oh no, she... Saw them walking together." They collectively said.

"I didn't see them just walk together, a voice came from the upper balcony, Dusty has been eves dropping on the whole conversation. It wasn't intentional, they just happened to choose a place to talk that Dusty happened to be above. They all 3 looked up at her shocked, she jumped down with ease, normally dogs wouldn't risk such a maneuver, especially one who was on the sled team. It was too risky to break or even harm your legs if you required them for your job. Dusty didn't care at the moment.

"Whoa, Dusty how long we're you there?" Saba asked.

"Enough to hear that Kodi doesn't like me anymore." Dusty said half crying.

"You said you saw something else?" Diego said, somewhat ignoring Dusty's sadness.

"I saw him... him and that dirty _wolf _hugging and kissing at the bottom of a hill near Balto's boat." Dusty struggled to say, she held back a few words she wanted to use to describe the wolf. Kodi came out of his hiding place, and Kirby yet again signaled him to hide, he didn't hesitate to hide once again at the sight of Dusty there. This time he ran off through the alley, Saba caught sight of him, and ran off after him. Dusty ignored Kirby and Diego's warnings not to follow her, and ran off after Saba, who was unknowing she was being followed. Sure enough she found Kodi and Saba talking, and hid nearby.

"Saba what happened with Dusty and you guys, she seemed a bit mad..." Kodi asked.

"Oh, uh it was nothing." I wasn't that we was trying to ruin her brothers relationship, she just didn't want to be blamed for it, even though it wasn't her fault.

"So.. did.. did you enjoy walking Siku home?" She said half grinning, it was for Kodi. In her mind though, she knew they might have been kissing or hugging or whatever Dusty said.

"Well... Saba I have to tell.. somebody." Kodi struggled to say all of this. "I... I think I like her... no, I love Dusty... but Siku is amazing... I don't know what to do... Siku is so beautiful but... I can't break Dusty's heart." He was half cut off by Dusty.

"You already have Kodi!" Dusty yelled hysterically from her hiding place.

"Damn Dusty you like to spy on people don't you?" Saba said, not in a joking way, more, she was just as surprised as Kodi was.

"You want to be with Siku, don't worry, I don't care." Dusty said ignoring Saba, then she ran off.

Kodi was stunned. He couldn't believe what just happened, Dusty hated him now. He was sad but couldn't fight of the small happiness that Siku was now a possibility, and ran off after her.

"Dusty wait!" he tried to follow her, but he was slowing. Deep down he didn't want to catch up to her. Dusty on the other hand slowed, hoping Kodi would catch up to her. She didn't get her wish, she turned to Kodi and she shot him a cold look.

It said that they were over. Both sides agreeing at this point, Kodi still hurt from it. He turned and walked past Kirby who tried to talk to him but Kodi obviously wasn't showing signs of wanting a conversation. He couldn't think straight, deep down he wanted to break it off with Dusty, but it still hurt that it had to happen that way. He would have never left Dusty for a reason as stupid as looks. But he knew Dusty wouldn't hear any of it from him. He thought about the last time he was happy today, it was with Siku. His spirits lifted at the thought of her, and turned blankly and started walking toward the boat at a slow pace, it took him over half an hour to reach the boat, he didn't care, he was lost in his thoughts. Dusty was no longer with him, and he might be in love with a certain little wolf named Siku.

He shook his head trying to drown the sorrow in his mind to no avail. He walked up and made Boris jump, he ignored it and sat by him. He wanted to talk to Boris, but didn't know what to say, that he was in love with this wolf? Even he wasn't sure of t yet anyway. Plus he didn't feel like talking, all he wanted to do was be near Siku. He gave a hint to Boris that said "thank you for understanding", Then walked over to Siku. He dared not wake her so he lay down a foot away from her, unlike Siku the cold didn't bother him one bit. He was larger than her and so what his coat. Plus he felt better just being here. He fell asleep soon after with Boris scratching his ears, the goose trying hard to comfort both of them. He didn't mind one bit, Kodi was family, and the fact that he would never turn away a pup in need like Siku, she might as well be family too. He returned to his deck and let himself fall asleep, successful after pushing away the worried thoughts that crossed his mind, it wasn't that Balto was still out this late, he would sleep over at Jenna's house often now, what worried him was what Siku said... Who knew what secrets she held?

* * *

Balto and Jenna, Just like pups.

"I suppose I should go check on Steele" Balto suggested, and Jenna came with him.

Saba had her devious face on as she planned to trick Dusty into thinking Kodi was cheating on her. "Heh, kids" he thought as he sent Saba a "don't take things too far" type of look, Then watched her run off in excitement.

Jenna got closer to him as they crossed the alleyway.

"Hey Jenna, I hope you didn't think any-" Balto stopped as Jenna answered his question early.

"Don't even Balto, I trust you more than enough to let stupid thoughts of jealousy fill my mind, plus that wolf was nothing more.. Than a pup" she said remembering how small Siku is.

"Oh good, you trust me then, we'll that sucks because I find Siku b-e-autiful." He said playfully and pronouncing "beautiful" funny.

"You're terrible." Jenna laughed back and chased him, they ran around the block and turned corners fast, evading each other as they took turns being "it". They eventually stopped when they met a dead end, Jenna was it, and she was cornering Balto. Balto smiled at Jenna's futile attempt at acting aggressive, her pretty nose crinkled up to show her small, but sharp teeth.

"Oh no, you've cornered your prey, have mercy on me!" He joked.

Jenna didn't say anything but she hid her teeth again, smiled then pounced on top of him, flipping him on his back. She was biting and acting like he was caribou. "Okay okay ack okay you got me haha" he said I between her bites. Then Jenna bit him hard on the left forepaw, he heard his knuckle crack.

"Aaahhww! Why Jenna? Ow" she jumped off from on top of him and he quickly got to his feet, he examined his paw, it wasn't bleeding, but there was obvious signs indented into the fur around it that indicated a bite mark. He tilted his head and stared at Jenna with a "what the hell?" face. She just walked up to him and whispered "never try to make me jealous again".

She broke her seriousness first and burst into laughter, Balto followed laughing, but also making a mental note not to mess with Jenna. They returned to their normal walking formation back through the same alley since they were playing around and lost track of where they were. He looked at her with a proud smile, and went over to kiss her. She just blushed but returned it.

"That's what I love about you, no matter the circumstances, or puppies are fully grown and we're not as young as we used to be, we can still play around as if we were little pups ourselves. Oh and I also love your 'ruthless' side." He said indicating it was a joke.

"I feel younger around you, it reminded me of when were pups all those years ago when we first met." Jenna said

"Yeah, back when Steele would torment me if I so much as came into town, let alone steal a look at you." He said hiding his smile. "You guys never.. You know.." Balto questioned.

"What? Never! In all the years he's tried to get me, I've only went on one single date with him." Jenna said, Balto was actually impressed with her. It was a full year before he even knew Jenna existed, and he was sure for at least a good portion of that year that Steele was trying to get at her.

"Well... How did it go? "Balto asked, genuinely interested in his mates' previous date.

"Oh it was terrible, for one, he spent the entire time showing off his medals and accomplishments and.. he was just annoying. Then he brings me to his..." Jenna stopped dead in her sentence and tried to play it off like she forgot. Balto caught on to this immediately, but allowed Jenna to try and play it off.

"Balto I think... I think Steele tried to rape me." Jenna said, she didn't want to tell him but figured she shouldn't keep secrets, after all if she could trust anyone in the world, she could trust Balto.

"WHAT? That dirty sniveling *insert random assortment of curse words "describing" Steele*. I should have left that piece of _shit_ to die in the forest!" Balto was furious, even though this happened years ago, the very thought of Steele even trying to force his way onto Jenna made Balto want to kill him himself.

"Balto, he never got the chance, I slapped him and made him leave. I can handle myself, but I can't believe I'm just now remembering it." Jenna said proudly at first, then quietly afterwards.

"I wish you would have told me earlier, the bear would have never gotten the chance to kill Steele, he would have already been dead!" Balto said while growling, he turned his anger down a bit as he noticed he was starting to scare Jenna.

"Balto don't act like that, it isn't you." Jenna said in the most soothing voice.

"I know, but Steele..." He finally stopped growling, and looked over at Jenna and forced a smile, he was still pissed at Steele. His growl returned once they rounded the corner and spotted the vets office.

"Balto stop." Jenna said softly.

"It's involuntary" Balto said quickly then continued growling.

"Well are we still going to check on him?" Jenna asked, she knew his answer already.

"I don't think I'll go in, I might make his recovery a little bit more difficult." He said with a wicked smile.

"I don't really want to see him either then." Jenna agreed, taking Balto's decision as her own was something she was willing to deal with.

"No, I wouldn't mind if you went to check on him, I don't think I can hide my anger, but someone should-" he was interrupted by Steele's owners.

"Oh look there's Balto." The man told his wife.

She knelt down to Balto and pet him, "thanks for saving our Steele, Balto."

The man gave him some kind of treats Balto has never seen before, but they were delicious. Balto only ate one and gave to other 2 to Jenna, she also ate one then after a second, ate the other, unable to resist the delicious treat. Balto smiled as the man laughed and walked off.

"Huh, looks like they finally realized that I didn't attack him, rather, saved him." He said and looked over at Jenna.

"Did they really think the nicest dog in nome attacked Steele?" Jenna said with a smile.

"I don't know, Steele hates me, who's to say their owners don't hate me too."

"So do you want to go check on him?"

"I suppose so." Balto said, and then followed Jenna over to the door. He thought about how much Steele's owners seemed happy for him saving their dog. He decided to put his anger behind him... For now, until Steele recovered.

They entered the vets office thanks to a human couple standing outside to smoke opening the door for them. Balto nodded in thanks and let Jenna proceed him.

"Wow wolf dog Balto even has manners too." The woman joked, her and the other human laughed a bit.

"It's a bit scary how smart Balto is; he's done stuff my stupid dog could never do." The man claimed. Balto smiled as he remembered that they must have been Kaltag's owners.

Balto and Jenna sat patiently in the waiting room. The room was empty except for an old man who sat across, closer to the door. He was reading _The Nome Nugget_ and Balto was a bit relieved that his face wasn't on the front of it like it has been for the past month. The man looked over his newspaper to Balto, and examined him, Balto did the same.

"Well if it isn't Balto! I have been in this town for a few months now and I have never seen you until now." He extended his hand to meet Balto, Balto happily walked over to him, the man pet and scratch behind his ears.

"You know, I just wanted to thank you in person, you saved my little nephew, we had just come to Nome a few months before the outbreak. He loved to play in the snow, heh, we moved here from California, not much snow there. But it turned out to get him into a lot of trouble." He looked down at Balto, who just yip quietly at him.

"You're so smart, I wouldn't doubt it if you could actually understand me and I'm not just a crazy nut who's talking to a dog." He chuckled, to his surprise Balto nodded in agreement.

"I guess you _can_ understand me? No that's crazy talk." He said, and then watched Jenna walk to Balto's side.

"I see you've found a mate for yourself Balto, she sure is cute, well for a dog." He chuckled, and Jenna slightly blushed, Balto agreed with him by licking Jenna and smiled.

He pet them both for a while until the vet asked to talk to him.

The vet was well known throughout Nome, and pretty much everywhere within a 500 mile radius. Dr. Osnik moved here from Germany, having worked on soldiers, and saved many of them. Even though, he secretly only had training as a vet. After the Balto couldn't make out what they were saying through the door, but the man sounded relieved. He walk out of the room with a small smile, and following him was Nikki.

"Heyas Balto, what brings yous here?" Nikki said, he didn't seem like he was in any pain, Balto wondered why he was here.

"I'm checking in on Steele, what are you here for? You look great." Balto complimented.

"Oh, my owner is just a bit overprotective, I tripped and fell off the porch and he thought I broke my leg. It was just a small sprang." He said as he raised his paw to show a soft cast. Nikki, along with Steele, Kaltag and Star were all retired. 4 of Balto's pups, and 1 form Kaltag replaced them for the mail run.

"Wow, did it hurt?" Jenna asked.

"Not even the slightest, the shots they gave me were the worst of it all, and even that was nutin'." Nikki explained. Balto look at Jenna and smiled, Nikki must have went through a lot if he didn't realize his leg was indeed broken.

Nikki opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by the vet.

"Aha! There's Balto, you come to check on your old pal Steele?" The vet noticed Balto's agitation; Steele was definitely not an "old pal" of his.

"And you bring your mate I see" he said looking over at Jenna, who just barked in response.

"Well he isn't exactly in a talking state right now; poor guy's been through hell and back with the surgeries. I'll be back in a second" Dr. Osnik said as he walked over to Nikki and his owner. He explained what medication Nikki needed to take and that he would need about 6 weeks to recover fully. They shook hands and Nikki's owner walked out carrying Nikki. The owner struggling to lift the huge dog, Balto chuckled at this sight and shook his head with a smile.

"So, Balto hopefully you'll be able to see your friend tomorrow, he's currently in an induced coma, he probably wouldn't be able to wake up in his current state." Dr. Osnik let of a sigh, he's already charged steeled owners a hefty fine and he wouldn't feel right to charge any more, but Steele required much more work. Balto nodded to him and licked his hand giving him a sign of "good luck" that the vet seemed to understand.

"I'll try my best" he said as he knelt down and pat Balto, then opened the door for Jenna and Balto to leave. As they were leaving, Dusty got their attention, she was jumping building to building, heading right.

Balto saw his younger self in her, he would jump the very same rooftops as he used to sneak around town. He looked far to the left and saw Saba and Kodi. There was something going on, but Balto decided to stay out of it, seeing Kodi meant that Siku was safely in the hands of Boris at his home. He turned to follow Jenna, who seemingly kept walking. Night was starting to wash over town, they were only in the vets office for about a half of an hour, but daylight was scarce in Alaska this time of year. The 4 hour day was coming to an end, and with it, the town settled down.

Balto walked with Jenna back home and spent an hour or so visiting Rosie. Eventually Rosie and Jenna's bedtime came along, so Balto took his leave after kissing them both goodbye. His thoughts as he walked home seemed to go back to Dusty. She looked like him, and acted like him, he was happy that his son was with her. He also knew Dusty was a good fighter. Balto would have to ask Kaltag if he messed around at some point with a shewolf, he laughed at the thought.

As he neared his boat about 10 min later he figured everyone was asleep, so he quietly jumped up on deck and looked for a place to sleep outside on the deck. He figured Siku was sleeping comfortably in his normal sleeping place, he could smell her, but... Kodi's smell also filled his nose, what was Kodi doing here? He walked over to investigate. The sight warmed his heart, Siku and Kodi were snuggled together close under his blanket. They were cute this way, Balto smiled as he almost guessed correct that Siku and Kodi would like each other. But what about Dusty? He entered the room and lay down on the other side of it, near the window. As he rested his head on his paws more questions popped up about this wolf pup. She was going to have a lot of explaining tomorrow, the poor pup was so scared when he first found her, but when Balto was around Siku, it made her as confident as anyone else. "_I wonder if she feels as safe around Kodi_" he thought, it'd be nice if Kodi could take care of her rather than him. Kodi would better be a more... suitable protector for Siku than Balto would, with Kodi being much closer in age to her than Balto was. He turned over, trying to pry the thoughts out I his head. Eventually he fell asleep too, the cold Alaskan air blowing through the room, though not bothering him in the slightest.

END. CHAP 2.

* * *

Holy shit Siku is going to have to answer a lot, it will all come in the next chapter, but it won't take up too much as I've skipped out on the more action, and tragic parts I wanted to already. This story is going to be tainted with terrible things soon, so get ready.

**Thanks for reading my stuff and stuff, follow if you like my stuff, so you'll be notified of more stuff² to come! W00T For another active story about Balto! Review for stuff like advice, errors, other... STUFF.**

hi


	4. Dreams give hope, Nightmares give worry

**Few things to note, this was a long as chapter, it had to be cut, it was well over 24,000 words. What you will be reading is chapter 4, I will upload chapter 5 soon (the other half). Remember, this is my first time writing, well, anything really. So it's my first time writing an action scene (chap 5), first time writing dream scenes, and first time writing tragic scenes.**

**The following chapter is a bit more character development, I'll admit I'm having fun writing about Siku. I love this character, and you'll see where I got her idea from in the writers notes at the end of this chapter if you're interested. If I do write more stories, she'll most likely be in it. **

**Tragic, sad, and terrible things happen here, so if you're one to be easily saddened by sad events, I'd suggest you keep a puppy near you for support.**

**Continue reading, and thanks. As always, I don't care if you leave a review, though I'd appreciate it if you did. It's just the fact that someone read it is enough for me.**

* * *

Dreams give hope, Nightmares give worry.

Balto was first to wake up, the dark sky showed no signs of daylight, but there was something that proved the sun existed, the Aurora Borealis. Balto watched with amazement at the dancing columns of green and blue light in the sky. Balto remembered the short time he was allowed to spend with his mother; they'd watch the northern lights dance across the sky. Aniu would tell him stories based off the lights, she would say that the lights were spirits returning to earth to guide their loved ones through hard times. Balto sigh and lay his head back down over his paws. After a few minutes of failed attempts to return to sleep, he got up and checked on a few things. First he walked over to where Siku and Kodi were sleeping. Their shifting throughout the night didn't cause them to become any more thinly snuggled together, but did manage to slip the blanket off at some point. He smiled at the sight of the two; Kodi and Siku were adorable together. Seeing them like this brought back his memories of meeting Siku for the first time yesterday. He loved the wolf, but obviously not in the way Kodi might. Why was his mind playing tricks on him? Did he love Siku? Or did he just feel protective of her. His mind agreed with the latter more, so he went with it. He walked over to pull the blanket over the two, and smiled slightly at Kodi's quiet whimpering. He recognized a puppy lost in dreams all too well.

"Ah, so Balto returned last night?" Boris said, he didn't startle Balto in the least bit because Boris was trying hard to speak softly so as not to wake the two.

"Yeah, I got home kinda late; I was playing with Jenna and Rosy." Balto explained.

"Sigh* "Dog who sleeps latest also wakes up earliest." Boris scolded. "Not very good for you to miss out on much needed sleep!"

"Heh, are you ever going to stop treating me like the pup you found years ago?" Balto asked kindly.

"No, I say I'm going to stay here until you learn to stand on own four paws. You can take it any way you want." Boris said.

Balto just laughed slightly and looked back to Kodi and Siku. Boris also walked over to him and looked at the two.

"They are pretty close for comfort, yes?" Boris asked.

"They seem to like each other huh? They're cute together, and I'm just too old for... to take care of Siku." He said with the slightest hint of sorrow.

"Boris, why does my mind do these things? I can't fight off the feeling that I love Siku, but not in the way I love Jenna, or, more obviously how Kodi feels about her." Balto asked, just clueless like the pup Boris found all those years ago.

Boris thought for a few seconds and seemed to formulate a theory.

"Balto let us think about your heritage, you're half husky, yes?" Balto nodded. "And what about other side?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm part wolf, what are you getting at?" Balto said as he turned his head slightly giving a curious look on his face.

"Siku is also wolf, I may not know much about your wolf instincts but I do know that members of a pack love each other and have unbreakable bond. They are to protect each other at all costs." Boris explained, his years of wisdom told Balto that he was right, and the fact that Boris almost matched his exact feelings towards the wolf.

"Huh, I guess that does make sense, I feel like I'm leaving a part of me behind every time I leave Siku's side."

"You and Siku are now a pack. Pack of two? No, Siku is part of _your_ pack, which includes me, Jenna, your children and all close friends." Boris explained.

"Weird. I never thought of you all as my pack. I always used to think how it would be to be part of a one, if I were ever accepted into a pack. I can't deny that I would fight to the death for any of you guys." Balto said proudly.

"Does... Does that mean I'm a pack Alpha?" Balto asked in a cute way, as if he was truly proud of being one.

"Sure you are." Boris sighed and pet Balto on the head. "And That's good that you would protect the members of your pack, Balto, just don't be stupid about it. Now you need to go back to sleep, I can see bags under big yellow eyes of yours!" Boris offered and waddled off.

"Fine, fine." Balto said as he returned to his earlier spot. This time he lay on his back as to stare at the sky. Watching the eternal dance of the lights calmed Balto. It made him feel like his mother was up there, watching down on him. He caught his thoughts before they led him to sadness, but it was a futile effort. Once again he asked seemingly nobody, why his mother would leave him all alone. He shook his head and tried to think about the positives. His mate, children and acceptance of the entire town were an unintended side-effect of it. Still he wondered how it would have been if his mother didn't have to leave him. He sighed and closed his eyes, it was going to be a long night.

* * *

Balto froze still, he was now standing outside his boat, how the hell did he get here? He looked around a bit and walked back up the boat, and back into the room he was at before. Siku and Kodi were now gone. He looked around for Boris; he was nowhere to be found. He figured they woke up and were trying to play some trick on him, but they always forgot about one important thing: Balto could smell any of them from miles away. He lifts his nose into the air and sniffed about. Nothing, but then... Dusty? What the hell was Dusty doing near here? He followed her scent; it followed the coast and stopped. Everything beyond this point was black, not a single light or sign of, well, anything could be seen in the infinite ocean in front of him. "_Was Dusty out for a midnight swim in subzero temperatures, at night_?" Balto put the crazy thoughts behind him. He walked out onto the ice stupidly, but it held him with ease, he roamed the ice for a bit "looking" for Dusty. It was dead night and the northern lights were gone, so he could only use his nose to see and make sure he didn't walk of the edge and into the freezing waters. He walked back to shore after giving up. Dusty's scent all but trailed off at this point.

"Huh, weird" Balto said aloud. But his mouth didn't make a sound. In fact everything was silent. He ignored this and looked over to the town, following the scent of where Dusty came from. The town was as dead as everything else. But the numerous lamps kept the town lit up with an orange glow. Balto walked through town, voices were calling out to him as the humans welcomed him back, but they were not real, as soon as Balto walked up to them they vanish. The entire town was empty, even of smells and sounds. Balto was puzzled, why was everyone gone? He walked past Jenna's house hoping to see if she was awake, but she was gone too. Balto started to panic now, everyone was gone and Balto had no idea what was happening. He picked up Dusty's scent and followed it, it was the only smell he could pick up, and it was an indication of another living being. He desperately ran full speed toward the scent and found himself passing the forest edge. He dared never to go there at night, but he didn't care right now.

Then he stopped completely as he heard Jenna scream his name...

"Baltoooooo!" Jenna screamed. It tore Balto apart, Jenna was in pain. Something hurt her, and god dammit whatever it was Balto would kill whoever it was. He ran as fast as he ever did towards the source. He passed huge fir trees that seemed to extend out of sight, their collective leaves formed a canopy, shielding the snowfall from reaching the ground. He neared the source of her voice, as he passed through a branch barrier between two trees, he finally found Jenna. She didn't seem real, she was frozen, silent, not a single scent coming off of her, and she was facing away from him.

"Oh thank god Jenna, I thought something happened to you! What are you doing in the middle of the forest at night?" She didn't answer, she didn't move. He walked over to her but couldn't get any closer. Something stopped him, he looked back to see what held his leg from walking…. It was Siku...

"Don't touch her Balto, it's a trap..." The word "trap" echoed for a bit as he looked over to her. She didn't seem alive, more; she was a talking demon in disguise. He sensed "it"s intentions and tried to run off towards Jenna, but to no avail. Siku didn't let go of his leg.

"Siku let me go! I have to save Jenna!" Balto yelled, he turned to bite Siku with a growl, but couldn't reach her, his front arm was held back by another figure... This time it was... Kodi. But he was covered in blood, barely recognizable through it.

"K...Kodi, what happened?" Balto asked, but his son didn't respond. Something was going on but Balto couldn't fight back. He accepted their advice and sat down as they let him free.

"Guys, GUYS?! Someone want to explain what the _hell_ is going on here?" Balto yelled at them. Neither of them responded in any way, still starring at Jenna in front of them. Jenna still sat motionless facing the other way, facing the eternal darkness of the forest beyond her. Balto had enough; he sprinted off almost instantly towards Jenna. Kodi and Siku didn't move, they watched with a devious smile as Balto approached Jenna.

"Jenna we have to go-" he was cut off by the sudden laughter that exploded in his mind.

"The cunning trickster is victorious again, Balto!" A mysterious voice in his head. Just as soon as it came, Jenna fell, blood began pouring out of her ears, nose, mouth... She too didn't seem alive, again, just a demon in disguise.

"JENNA! What? WHAT? You can't … What is this shit! Oh Jenna, talk to me!" Tears started down his cheeks as he got down investigate.

"No! No, no no, Jenna!" He yelled, he growled and showed his teeth as he faced Siku.

"What did you do!" He said with fires burning in his eyes, each word spit out like acid. He walked slowly towards Siku and Kodi. They didn't move or respond. Balto jumped up and had teeth shown, ready to kill Siku in one shot. But he didn't satisfy his bite, and instead landed face first into the snow. Siku and Kodi had vanished... He sniffed the air around him... Nothing, it was like they were never here. Then he remembered Jenna. He walked over to where her body was, but she had vanished too.

"What is going on!" Balto screamed crazily into the empty darkness around him, throwing his head around. He didn't believe this was real, but he knew it couldn't have been a dream, though he wished it was.

Dusty's scent returned to his nose. It seemed like Dusty was the only real thing. He hesitated for a second, still thinking about what just happened to Jenna, and then bolted off towards the smell. Another scent filled his nose... Blood. And his heart dropped yet again as he found Dusty's long dead body in the snow near the edge of the forest. Her body was at the end of a trail that formed when she was dragged, it went on for as far as he could see. He threw up at the smell, and tears once again formed in his eyes. He examined Dusty's lifeless body in the snow in front of him, she was killed almost certainly by... A wolf. He looked around, the loose tree barrier circled the opening they were in, he turned to his right and focused on an object in the distance. He growled as a familiar sight formed. It was Siku again, only this time, she was alive and looked as confused as he was. It still didn't stop him from wanting to kill her for what she did to Jenna, and now possibly Dusty.

"Balto, oh my god, I was so scared" she said as she ran to meet Balto, but stopped a few feet away, she saw Balto growling and ready to kill her...

"B-Balto?" She asked cowardly.

"You killed Jenna, and now Dusty?" Balto asked, but he slightly turned down his aggression, he knew Siku couldn't have done this, let alone perform that magic trick from earlier by disappearing.

"What? No! Wait, Jenna is... D-dead? Dusty too? Oh no, they can't be!" She started crying when she caught sight of Dusty's mangled remains. Balto stopped growling now and walked over to Siku to comfort her.

"Siku... I dont know what the hell is going on, but you're the only real thing in the world right now." Balto said as he felt Siku's face bury Ito his chest as she cried.

"Isn't that precious Nehalem?" Balto and Siku jumped at the voice of an unknown entity.

"Yes, adorable, Drago." Said a second voice.

"Who are you? Show yourselves!" Balto demanded.

"Did you like our little present from earlier?" Nehalem asked, and then laughed evilly.

"Yes, yes, using Jenna and Dusty to bring you out here was all too easy a job for my friend Drago here." Nehalem added.

"You... You did this?" Balto said, referring to Dusty's dead body.

"Hmm, yes, she was necessary for the role, but she wouldn't shut her ass up, so I had Drago kill her, we figured her scent was enough to attract you."

"You son of a bitch!" Balto yelled at them, he still couldn't see them, it was like he was talking to the air around him. "Show yourselves you cowards! I'm going make you beg for death for killing my mate! Oh, and Dusty!" Balto added, even to him it sounded a little stupid, but he meant every word of it.

"Aha, Jenna, is it?" Nehalem asked with his evil laugh returning. "But Jenna is safe and sound, what would make you think she is dead?" He added.

Balto hid whatever happiness he found at the thought that Jenna was alive.

"But don't worry, Balto. She will join Dusty soon enough." Nehalem added with a smile.

"No she won't, I won't let you _demons _touch her! Show yourselves! You won't get away with killing Dusty!" Balto yelled, full of anger.

"In time, Balto, in time..." Nehalem replied.

And in an instant Balto's surroundings disappeared, except for Siku, who was still hiding her face in his chest. She was still crying, the mere sight of Dusty's body shocked her. She stopped as she realized they were in a different place. Both Balto and Siku looked around, there was only white. White for as far as they could see.

"Where…Where are we?" Siku asked.

"I have no idea..." As he answered a figure began to form in the fog beyond them. Balto recognized it right away.

"Jenna!" Balto screamed happily as he ran towards her. But he never reached her, once again he was held back by Siku...

"Balto, it's a trap" she said again. Balto was at a loss, but he took the advice again and sat down.

"What do I do?" He asked desperately. All he wanted was for Jenna to be safe.

"You must chose one." Siku said, it was her voice, but was not her words, she was speaking from her eyes, as she looked into Balto's own.

Just as Balto looked over, a figure of another dog formed. This time it was Kodi...

"What do you mean? I can't choose between them! Please, Siku, what is all of this?" Balto panicked again and ran towards Jenna again.

"You have chosen your mate over our son." Siku said, and as Balto looked over at Kodi, Blood began pouring out of his nose, mouth, and eyes, and then he fell to the ground, dead.

* * *

Balto.

Balto opened his eyes and jumped up; he saw Kodi and Siku peacefully sleeping in front of him. He fell back down, exhausted, and cried in happiness that it was just a dream. He was scared to death by his own nightmare, but it had to have meant something. Almost perfectly on cue Boris jumped up on deck and walked over to Balto.

"What's the matter Balto? You look like you've seen death!" Boris said as he looked at Kodi and Siku, half expecting them to be dead.

"Boris... It was nothing... Nightmare..." Balto was still torn apart by the images his brain conjured up. He couldn't sit up for long, his entire body was trembling, and he fell back down and his eyes continued producing tears, he covered them with his paws.

"Oh, Balto, you and your nightmares." Boris said as he comforted the wolf-dog.

"B-Boris, what time do you think it is?" Balto asked, he knew the goose had an internal clock that helped him when he migrated. Even though Boris didn't leave for the winter, he still had the ability to tell time regardless of the suns help.

"It's probably near 10 am." Boris said after thinking for a sec and looking to the sky, it was still dark, and the sun wasn't coming up for another hour or so.

"Boris... I have to go see if Jenna is awake... I need proof that she is... Alive." Balto said very worried.

"Oh, what a terrible thing your mind has done to you, poor Balto, you check on her, it'll get your mind off of terrible thoughts."

"I'll.. I'll be back soon, watch Siku and Kodi." Balto added as he sniffled once again. His body stopped trembling and tears stopped falling, but his mind was still racing. He knew all too well what his dreams meant, and it has been so long since it was a nightmare, especially a nightmare like this...

His mind emptied when he saw Kirby and Saba outside of town.

"Guys, what's up?" He said, hiding the relief in his voice that there were actually real dogs in town now.

"Hey Balto, were looking for Dusty, she didn't come home last night, we haven't seen her since... Kodi and her broke it off." Kirby explained.

Balto looked over to towards town and saw that Ralph and a few others also looked like they were searching for her. His mind filled with thoughts again, what if his dream were real, Dusty was gone... There was only one way to make sure. He ignored Kirby and Saba completely and ran off towards the glowing town of Nome.

"What's gotten into him?" Kirby asked Saba.

"Who knows, but he seems worried, maybe he knows where to look for Dusty." Saba replied.

"Let's follow him then, there is no sign if Dusty out here anyway." Kirby suggested, and as Saba agreed, they ran off after Balto.

Balto ignored everything except for the reassuring fact that the humans and a few dogs were walking around town, unlike his dream. The sun was just barely starting to peak through, but people were awake at the normal hours of the day, returning to various shops and jobs, and going about business like they did every day. He turned the corner and spotted Jenna's house. He hit the door impatiently, and scratched at it, knowing it should only wake Jenna and not her owners. He whimpered and barked softly, she didn't answer... Balto stopped for a second to let Jenna respond to his summoning her. His worriedness turned into impatience. He couldn't stand it anymore, using his full strength, he burst his way into the door, breaking the bottom half of it. He immediately softened when he saw Jenna, who was standing and looked a tad bit surprised.

"Balto! What the hell? You couldn't wait for me to answer?" Jenna asked him but Balto couldn't say anything, he just walked up to Jenna and hugged her tightly. He licked her ears and head, and her nose.

"Okay, okay" Jenna said as she giggled. "What is it Balto?"

Balto let her go but continued to lick and nuzzle her a bit before stepping back.

"I uh..." He said as he looked back at the door he destroyed.

"Jenna, I thought I lost you" he said and returned to hug her.

"What do you mean Balto?" Jenna asked as she comforted him.

"I... I had dream... But it was all too real, I thought it was nothing, but now Dusty is missing, just like in my... Nightmare." Balto struggled to explain, after all, he was acting a bit crazy over a dream.

"Oh Balto, I know you dreams mean something, but I'm fine, and I'm sure Dusty is fine too." Jenna said in a reassuring way.

"I know, it's just... It seemed so real, and it was Siku who killed you at first, but I later found out it was someone else. I don't know Jenna, I'm just happy you're alright." He said and licked her nose once again.

"Well, I'm listening, what happened in this dream?" Jenna said as she sat down in front of him.

"Papa what's wrong?" Came a voice Balto knew to be Saba's, he turned to her and saw she was looking at the obvious signs of the door being destroyed.

"It's.. It was just a dream, luckily you weren't in it at all." Balto told her.

"Wow I guess I'm not good enough for your dreams then?" Saba joked.

"Saba, in this nightmare I saw the deaths of Jenna, Kodi, and Dusty. I could not be more relieved that you were not part of it." Balto shot back.

"Oh dear" Jenna said to him. Obviously hearing herself along with her son and his friend dying made her fear what Balto was going to explain.

"I know papa, but I want to hear about it too." Saba said, and then walked in to sit next to Jenna. Balto sat and thought about the beginning of his dream and began telling the two about it.

* * *

Kodi and Siku

Kodi woke up to a wonderful feeling. Under his left paw was Siku, comfortably snuggled into his chest. Had they been sleeping this way the entire night? He thought as he looked around. He heard noises come from behind him and he turned his head to investigate. His father was lying across from him and he wasn't exactly at peace with his sleep. He was running and biting, even barking a bit in his sleep. He was muttering inaudible sounds and growling too. Kodi was a bit embarrassed that Balto saw him and Siku cuddled together like this, but he shot his head back towards Balto as he said something he could make out.

"You killed Jenna... And now Dusty?" Kodi could make out of Balto's muttering. What was going on in his father's head, his mom and girlfriend were dead? He stopped his thoughts when he remembered what happened yesterday, Dusty was no longer his girlfriend. But his sadness didn't stick around, he looked back at Siku. He looked at the back of her head, watching her ears as they flopped down towards the side. There was no fighting it; he was in love with this wolf. If the town wouldn't accept his love for a wolf, he wouldn't hesitate to run away with her, just so that they could be together forever. His thoughts caused him to involuntarily reach forward and lick the back of her head. He stopped and froze, acting as if he was still sleeping as Siku moved and woke up. "_Damn she is such a light sleeper_" Kodi thought. He held his left eye ever so slightly open as he watched Siku surprised to see Kodi lying next to her. She sat up but tried not to let the blanket fall off of her, she looked down at Kodi, still a bit confused she let out a long yawn, spreading her jaws wide. Kodi expected her to run off now, or at the very least move away from him. No, she just smiled in the cutest way and lay back down, this time facing Kodi, as she returned the favor and licked his nose. She giggled slightly at the way Kodi's nose twitched a bit. Kodi fought off the huge urge to kiss her more, and expose that he was awake. But he lay still and watched as Siku's closed her eyes and snuggled closer to him. Kodi was full of happiness at this point, the thought of Dusty absent from his mind.

He couldn't fall back asleep, so he just lay there and looked up at the sky. It was beautiful, the northern lights were dancing in the sky, he watched, unknowingly to him Siku also watched.

"It's amazing isn't it?" Siku finally said, not surprising Kodi.

"Yeah... beautiful..." Kodi simply agreed, then looked over at Siku. She was already looking at him.

"You're... Beautiful." Kodi added.

Siku turned red under her fur, but licked Kodi on the cheek.

"Thank you Kodi, I'm glad I'm really seeing you when I wake up, although when I said it last night I didn't think I'd literally see you lying next to me." Siku added.

"I don't know, I felt like coming here and… I guess I came to the one place I felt happy, it was with you." Kodi said. Both of them returned to watch the show in the sky. They watched for a few minutes before they both fell back to sleep. Balto on the other hand was just waking up...

The sun finally showed itself as it broke through the clouds and burned into Kodi's face. He wasn't used to sleeping outside, so the heat of the sun woke him up right away. He looked over and saw that Siku was gone from next to him, he looked around for a second before he saw her sitting next to him.

"Morning sleepy head!" Siku playfully said as she ripped the blanket from on top of him with her teeth. She hinted at him to follow her as she jumped down a deck to Boris. He thought about how he even loved the way she woke him up, as he got up and stretched, his aching muscles from the run yesterday were all healed like normal and he felt great this morning. Maybe a good night's sleep worked better than he thought, though it could have to do with him sleeping with Siku.

"Ah, Kodi awake and well rested, are you still mopey mutt from last night?" Boris asked jokingly.

"I'm better now, thanks to Siku." Kodi said as he smiled at her.

"Ah, good, good, well I have yummy food for growing pups tummy here." Boris said as he brought a bowl of food from the other room and placed it in front of Siku, and another bowl placed in front of Kodi.

Hunting was no longer a problem for Balto and Boris, Rosy, along with other townspeople made sure Balto was well fed, and his boat as often overstocked with dog food as well as butcher surplus. This time Boris gave them bowls of puppychow dog food. Kodi was familiar with this, but knew a wolf like Siku wouldn't be. Siku looked at Kodi as if asking "this is food?" Kodi answered her question by digging into his food. Siku tested a bit of it, and then let out a sound of "eh, why not?" then began eating. Both of them finished almost at the same time and walked over to the water bowl. Kodi and Siku almost butt heads as they both bend down to drink.

"Oh, it's all yours" Kodi offered. Siku smiled and drank some of it, making sure there was left for Kodi, who then finished off the rest.

"Haha Kodi is gentleman, yes?" Boris asked, seemingly to Siku.

"He is the kindest gentleman, gentledog, whatever." Siku joked.

"I see Balto is gone, I wanted to talk to him now..." Siku added.

"Oh, Balto was struck by terrible nightmare last night, however bad it was he had to see Jenna for himself just to prove it was only a dream. Poor boy." Boris explained.

"Yeah, I caught him saying something about Jenna and Dusty... Killed by... Someone." Kodi acted like he knew, but didn't.

"What a terrible dream, to have to watch your mate die... Even if I wasn't real, it'd surely drive a guy insane." Siku said, she didn't mention Dusty, Kodi noticed, but let it go, he wouldn't have wanted to mention her either.

"I suppose we should go find him and the others so you can tell them about... Whatever secrets you hold. I don't even know, Siku." Kodi suggested, the last part made Siku look at the ground.

"I'll explain a bit on the way there, just for you, Kodi." Siku added, she smiled, and then looked at Boris.

"No, no, don't trouble, I'm sure Balto will tell me everything anyways, young one." Boris knew she wanted to tell him something, whatever these "bad things" were, if they were important, he'd hear about it sooner or later.

"Anyway I suggest you guys head out, Muk and Luk will come and make my life hell for next few hours." Boris joked.

"I'll come help you with them." Siku offered, she figured he was talking about puppies.

"Hah, bears will love you Siku... Love you to death." Boris said

"Bears?"

"Muk and Luk are polar bears I took care of them just like I did old Balto when he was pup. Hah, they're much more trouble than Balto." Boris explained further. Siku remembered polar bears back when she followed Balto.

"Let's go Siku; I'm sure everyone in town can't wait to see you..." Kodi said sarcastically. It wasn't that he thought the town didn't want to see her; they wouldn't have wanted to see _her and Kodi_.

"Okay Kodi." Siku said as she walked up to his side. She was so small; she might be able to walk normally under Kodi. He didn't dare test it out though, the sight of Siku sticking to Kodi's side was already suggestive enough. He liked how close Siku walked to him, she felt safe near him, and by contrast, he felt like a strong protector of her, like her bodyguard. They reached the town 5 minutes later, and met Kirby first.

"Hey Kodi, and uh, Siku" Kirby stupidly offered, he was staring at her and making her nervous. "Oh sorry, uh, I have never seen a wolf up close". Kirby said awkwardly.

"It's fine, you're Kirby right?" Siku asked. Kodi thought I was a bit scary how she seemed to know everyone's names before meeting them. He figured Saba, or Balto introduced her to everyone yesterday.

"Yep, I'm Kodi's team leader, we should be getting ready for the mail run soon remember, Kodi."

"You may be team leader, but I'm lead dog!" He playfully interjected.

"Yeah I still don't know how that works. Anyway I'll see you in an hour, that's when we're already late." Kirby used that joke a lot, considering how many times the team members decided to show up last minute to the sled.

"Kodi, I need to talk to you." Kirby asked

"What are we doing right now?" Kodi replied stupidly, trying, but failing at making a joke.

"No no, seriously. Dusty never came home after you and her... You know... Broke it off. All of the dogs, and a few humans have been looking for her the past hour. We're all worried." Kirby said quietly

"Oh no, she couldn't have gone anywhere? Just because of yesterday? Man I feel terrible..."

"It isn't your fault, well, _it is_, but don't think that way." Kirby said.

"If it wasn't bad enough, we already lost 1 member, we've got a full mail load, and our right center is already out. We can't find a replacement, your dad might use to come out of retirement for a day." Kirby joked, though both he and Kodi knew well that Balto would have no problem pulling the line.

"Ugh, I forgot today was a second run... We usually run every other day, and only had to run 2 days in a row if there was a lot of mail, I was looking forward to resting today..." Kodi said, he didn't sound disappointed, though, he still loved "pulling the line".

"Sucks for you." Siku joked, Kodi loved her sense of humor too, he also made a mental note that he would try to stop pointing out everything about her that he loved.

"Wow I hope Dusty is alright, I can't believe she would run off because of me..." Kodi said, it was mostly to himself, but he allowed Siku to hear it.

"What did you do to make her run off?" Siku asked, it was genuine curiosity.

"Well, Siku, honestly it was in part because she saw us... You know, at the bottom of the hill yesterday..." Kodi was ashamed to have to say it.

"Wait, you had a mate and you were being all cuddly with me? That's terrible Kodi!" Siku was a bit angry, she didn't know much dogs, so she didn't know that dogs, like humans, could changes partners from time to time, unlike wolves she was raised by, who were taught to "mate for life".

"She wasn't my mate, Siku, and... We broke it off days before you appeared out of the forest." He lied to her, but he promised he'd explain later. He didn't want to risk losing Dusty and now, Siku too.

"Kodi, you're cute okay? I don't want you to taint it with lies." Siku said, she called Kodi "cute" he resisted it, but it made him smile.

"The truth is, you're too beautiful to lose, you must know that it was all a misunderstanding, starting with her overhearing me talk to Saba about you, she took it that I was cheating on her with you. But she ran off before I could explain, and I was broken apart." Siku watched him tell his story, her nose pointed at him as her full attention was on him. "Then... I thought about the last time I was happy, it was with you. I don't really remember how I got to Balto's boat, but I came to you when I felt sad, and I was instantly cured."

"That's cute." Siku said, Kodi was starting to think she was mocking him, or more believably, she didn't know how to respond otherwise.

They were walking sort of, "orbiting" the town, until they reached Jenna's house. Kodi saw Rosy and prepared for her to run up to him. But he stopped when Siku did, she froze still, panicking, then slowly moved behind Kodi.

"Kodi I don't trust humans." Siku said full if fear. Kodi smiled at her innocence, but soon realized she was all wolf, and they instinctively feared humans, not to mention that she was a just a pup.

"It's fine, that is Rosy, she is a small human, you can take her." Kodi joked. "She's my mother's owner, and she loves all dogs."

"But I'm not a dog..."

"You might as well be one, look who you're walking with." Kodi assured her. "She'll love you."

"Okay... But I'm not going near her just yet." Siku said, Kodi smiled as he knew it wasn't her choice, Rosy would be the one to come near.

"Kodi! Hey boy!" Rosy called out and ran towards Kodi. He barked in response and got down on his front legs ready to pounce. He ran and barked around Rosy, leaving Siku behind. She just drop down low and maintained a shallow growl. But stopped as she noticed Kodi loved her, as she was petting him everywhere. Kodi got up and barked for Rosy to follow him, and walked over to Siku. Rosy stopped as she saw Siku hiding from view in the snow.

"You brought a friend Kodi!" Rosy said happily. But she knew better than to approach a strange dog, to her; Siku looked enough like a dog. Kodi walked over to her, and nudged her to go meet Rosy. She hesitated but got up and inched her way to Rosy. She kept Kodi's words in the back of her mind, "she's a small human, you can take her if need be." Just in case. This was her first encounter with a human, she was weary of the girl but she did seem nice. She was less than a foot from her and Rosy got on her knees to meet Siku's glare, she extended her hand towards her, Siku paused, but closed the gap herself as she let Rosy rub her nose. Instantly Siku became a dog, she licked her hand and let Rosy touch her whole head and back, it felt great, something like this was rare in the wild, and usually feelings like this would come from a close mate licking you. Kodi came back and played with them, then Siku was flipped in her back as Rosy rubbed her belly. She loved it, it was soothing, like therapy on her apparently aching muscles, the tension released from her and with it, her dislike of humans. She was a dog now, and she loved it. Jenna, Saba and Balto came out from the house behind Rosy, they spotted the 3 of them and walked over.

"It's a cute puppy party!" Rosy playfully announced. The 6 of them played for a while until Balto and Siku stepped out.

"So, enjoy your first encounter with a human?" Balto asked.

"She's great, why didn't anyone tell me it felt so good to be petted?" Siku asked excitedly.

"You wouldn't be able to know unless you experienced it yourself, most humans can be trusted, you just have to overcome your instincts, I grew up around them so it wasn't hard for me." Balto explained, but he knew the inevitably question would have to be asked.

"Siku are you ready to explain what war is going to happen, why you were spying on me?" Balto asked, he knew it was a random time to ask, but he wanted to know as soon as possible. Saba, Kodi and Jenna stopped and walked over to the two, just as Rosy's parents called her home.

"Uh, it's a long story, lets to somewhere else, the wind is picking up..." Siku said.

Kodi suggested they see if the boiler room was occupied, so all 5 walked over and checked the place out. It was empty... Except for Kirby, Ralph, but no Dusty, who was usually with them.

"Good, you guys are here, but Dusty isn't... Here. You guys couldn't find her?" Balto returned to a worried stance as they looked down silently and shook their heads.

"Oh Dusty, what's gotten into her..." Kodi added.

"You're the one who ran her off you ass." Kirby said, he was joking, but under their sorrow, it wasn't easily detected.

"I didn't mean for her to run away forever..." His tone changed as he said the last word. He couldn't believe if Dusty was gone forever.

*sigh* "we have to run in 45 minutes Kodi..." Kirby said, still a bit sad, Kirby grew up with Dusty, and even though she was Kodi's girlfriend for the past months, they were always close as ever.

"We need 2 replacements" Ralph suddenly added.

"You can count on old Balto to run this time, that is, if you guys can handle it." He joked, the last time they ran together, he was all but dragging the entire team with him, and ever since the bush plane race, his abilities were well known.

"Good, now we need another." Kirby added, seemingly feeling a bit better now.

"Well, Nikki is injured, and Kaltag has things he needs to worry about, Jenna? Hah!" Balto added as he looked at Jenna, she smiled at him and shook her head. Then he turned to Siku.

"Me? I can run yes, but I'm... Small." She said as she lowered her head and ears.

"We don't need to break any records, Siku." Kodi assured her.

"I guess I could give it a try, pulling the line." Siku said and looked at Kodi with a smile.

Kirby laughed a bit as he knew that was Kodi's saying.

"First things first, Siku has a story to tell." Balto announced, almost routinely, the group of dogs formed around the boiler all eyes in Siku. They were all interested in the wolfs story. Kaltag, Nikki and a few others joined in.

"Uh..." Siku froze; everyone was staring at her and made her nervous. Kodi got up and sat by her side.

"Go ahead Siku." Kodi said in the most soothing voice, it filled her with confidence again; a look to Balto topped it off.

"So, my name is Siku, but you already know that heh heh." She was no longer nervous, but she didn't know where to start. "I was abandoned by my parents when I was two weeks old." She lowered her ears at the sounds of the caring dogs felt sorry for her.

"It was still night, but I could make out a few things, Balto, Boris and two polar bears. I was terrified, not only by the bears, but by Balto. But something told me he was nice, I didn't know anything, he looked like my father, so I followed him for a while, secretly. I kept trying to communicate with him, but I was unable to. I could barely talk as-is." She looked at the funny face on Balto, who's stood out above the rest. "Well, I followed him till morning, and then a bear attacked him. I was so scared; it was going to kill Balto... I couldn't do any fighting, but I wanted to help anyway, even if I could just be a distraction to the bear. But I didn't have to. A certain brave red and white husky came to Balto's aid. She was so strong and it was amazing to watch her come to Balto's side. I told myself I would try to model after her if I got the chance to talk to her." She looked at Jenna who seemed proud if the fact someone wanted to emulate her. "She was hurt, but still tried to carry on, a tough spirit limited by physical interruptions." Even Siku shook her head unknowing exactly what she said. "I watched as clever Balto got a sled and told the others to take Jenna home. I tried to follow Balto afterwards but he ran too fast, so I figured I'd follow Jenna and the others home at the thought that I knew you'd come back to them. And that's how I found a place in the forest outside town."

"Wow, why didn't you ever come to talk to me?" Balto asked.

"It never came up, I was busy trying to survive, plus I didn't know how to talk to you. I would have eventually tried to say something but a dream forced me to." Siku added.

"A dream?" Balto asked surprised, he thought about his nightmare from last night, dreams could be terrible.

"Yes, the same dream... It haunts me every night. I rarely got a good night's rest in the last month." This all sounded too familiar to Balto.

"Dreams that stick around are trying to tell you something. I learned that too often than not, they... Can come true." Balto said, he was struck with worry as he thought about what he just said, and what his dream was about last night.

"I figured that, but it wasn't until the great wolf spirit told me to talk to you."

Balto was stunned. "Aniu?"

"Yes. She is your mother, I know. She rarely said your name when we talked; she referred to you as her son mostly." Siku added.

"Huh, now I'm really interested in what you've got to say." Balto said, the others made sounds of agreement. They all were silent as Siku started thinking.

"Well... It is clear as life, could not be a dream if you were there..." She continued on as the entire room stared at her at attention.

* * *

The Dream. First person, Siku.

My dream always started with running. I was always running, but never knew what from. Whenever I turned to look back, it was nothing but teeth and eyes surrounded by darkness. The dream always started like this, and the running part never ended until I became exhausted, which could last for hours. It would progress when I finally failed the eternal chase and allowed myself to be killed. A horrible pain was always expected, but every time, I would be saved by non-other than, Balto. Of course, at the time I had no idea who it was. I only remembered him as my supposed father, and now he was saving my life multiple times every time I would have died in my dreams. I classified him as my savior and a sign that my dreams were getting better. But every time after this I was left alone in a white... Everything. There was only white, with an ominous fog on the ground. A form of some dog would always pop up, and this dog was always the same one, Nehalem. Nehalem was the worst part of my dream. He would always use his powers to take over my form and use my own body against me. His demons would bring me to Balto's side and forced me to setup a trap using Dusty and Jenna to lure Balto into the forest. Every night I would have to knock Dusty unconscious, and drag her all the way to the forest, then, I would have to do the same to Jenna. It caused me to cry at being forced to betray my only savior in the world. I would have to setup a trap that, if Balto failed, which he always did, would kill Jenna. Often times Dusty would come to and she would be killed by Nehalem's side supporters. It was a terrible thing to watch. Every day I would have to watch, helpless to warn him, as Balto defied my advice and tried to save Jenna. Every time he did this I would scream out to him, crying, but it was all in my mind. I couldn't even turn to look away as I watched countless times. Jenna would fall to the ground before Balto and blood would pour out if her eyes nose and mouth. She pretty much died in Balto's arms. I would be summoned elsewhere, my conscience form stayed behind with Balto, while my body would continue to be used to do Nehalem's bidding. He would use my eyes to spy on everything in the town if Nome. He would force me to break into homes and count the number of inhabitants, both humans and dogs. I would report back to him and he would order his ranks to take parts of the town. His plan was simple; kill any and all opposing creatures that lived in Nome. They were to blame for the caribou shortage and to Nehalem; he was fulfilling the wishes of his own deity. He did not follow Aniu, rather he followed the evil commands of Amarok, the great wolf. By he took extreme prejudice against any and all hunters and dogs. He interpreted Amarok's commands as "kill all humans and human supporters". He was given supernatural abilities to help perform these actions. The ability to use straggling spirits against living beings to take control of their forms, He could also cause them to disappear. The only catch is that he cannot use them to his own advantage, so he himself cannot disappear, or use demon controlled beings to aid him in any way.

Every night my dream would end on him explaining his plot to his minions, I was a lifeless demon controlled body along with the rest, a total of thirty, give or take a few. I would be the only one to break the trance, using help from Aniu, I learned to break free of his hold and every night I would do the same thing, try and run up to kill Nehalem. I would be carried off by his demons and dropped into a pool of acid suitable punishment for treason, Nehalem would explain to me. Thankfully, I am saved every night by Aniu. She talks to me, and trains me how to better prepare for my next encounter with Nehalem. My dream would always end with her disappearance and I would wake as I fell asleep in my dream. Only recently did Aniu stick around, and explained my trip and that it was my duty to carry her message to the town of Nome, to warn and prepare the town for the inevitable. She would say that her son would be there to protect me; I am to put all my trust into Balto and anyone that Balto trusts. She would try her best to pass the same message on to Balto, but all she could do is make Balto believe Siku is his long lost daughter. Often times joking that Balto's head was too thick for any more messages to get through. She would lie down and comfort me as I tried to sleep off the traumatizing actions I had to endure before. Every night I would fall asleep in my dream, I would wake up in life.

* * *

"Sometimes I wonder if life is a dream itself, my dreams seem so real, it's hard to explain." She finished off.

"Whoa, Siku..." Balto was at a loss for words, both of them were having the same dream.

"Holy crap, you and papa were both dreaming the same thing!" Saba added, Balto wondered if she read his mind just then.

"You've been having these dreams too?" Siku asked facing Balto. He didn't answer; this defiantly meant something if they both were having the exact same dream, and if it required Aniu to tell Siku to talk to him.

"No, no, no, this can't happen... If it comes true... I can't..." Balto struggled, Dusty was already missing, he looked at Jenna and Kodi. If his dream was to come true, he'd stay by their side forever.

"That's terrible... Poor Siku has been through a lot..." Kirby finally broke the silence. "All this aside, we still have a job to do... Balto, Siku are you coming?" Kirby asked. Balto broke free and finally understood the sounds Kirby was making.

"No... We can't go out there... I mean... I know it's your job..." Balto said. He didn't want to leave Jenna.

"Balto I understand, I'll find a replacement." Kirby offered.

Balto thought for a bit, still disbelieving that the dreams meant something important. He looked at each dog in the room, most of them were focused on him and Siku. He looked at the ground, mouth slightly open, and thought hard before replying.

"No, wait...It's... Just a dream right? Just a silly dream. I shouldn't let it dictate my life." Balto said optimistically. "I'll run with you guys." He said as he turned to Siku. She nodded in agreement and followed the others out the door. Balto stopped before stepping out.

"Jenna, please, stay inside where it's safe, until I come back, stay close to Rosy and her parents. Just in case." The worried sound of his voice turned it into a wish that Jenna was going to fulfill.

"I will, Balto. I'll ask Kaltag and Tricksey to come over and keep me company." Jenna added.

Balto walked back to her and nuzzled her affectionately. "Be safe" he said. Jenna returned his words; after all, he was doing something dangerous too.

They all walk outside, Balto and Siku walked together following Kodi, Ralph, Saba, Diego and Kirby. Their right second was missing. Dusty. Balto shivered at the sight of Dusty's missing position, it was filled by Siku. Balto would be taking center left, replacing an unknown dog; he was always quiet but was friends with Dusty and Ralph. Kodi on the other hand had some sort of a rivalry with him.

"Uh, sorry dad, I may have rigged your spot to pull to the right so that it requires extra effort to stay straight. I'll fix it." He said with a wicked smile, he had secretly caused his rival to waste more than 20% of his energy just to keep straight for months.

"Using intelligence as a weapon, nice." Balto said.

"Kodi sure is a smart one..." Siku said sarcastically. Kodi tapped her with his tail. "Get used to it, Siku, you're going to be staring at my tail the whole time." He joked, and then his smile stopped as he looked at Balto. His father just stared at him with a "you gotta be kidding me" face.

"Oh, I guess you can lead, papa." Then relinquished his thresholds to his father.

"That's more like it." He was mostly joking, but he never followed before, and it would be much easier on everyone if he lead and continued dragging the team like he always does. Kodi in the other hand didn't mind to let his father lead, he was as good a lead dog as Kodi was. And his endurance would easily pull the sled faster and stronger. Plus he'd be next to Siku the whole time. As all dogs were saddled in, Mr. Simpson gave the command and Balto rushed off.

"Please be safe, Jenna." He said aloud as the sight of Nome faded behind trees of the forest. The run was quiet up until about the half-way point. All members of the team were panting frantically; they were exhausted, with the exception of Siku and Balto, of course. got the signal and commanded Balto to stop. The team slid to a stop in the melting snow and was allowed to rest. Everyone lie down in the snow and let the ice cold water fill their fur and felt great on their hidden skin. Balto walked over to Kodi, who was plopped head down into the snow, he was panting, though not as tired as the rest were. He was proud of his son's endurance, it means he took something great from him and his 1/4th wolf content. He walked over to Kirby and Ralph. They were almost dying at the way they were breathing. The others reflected this too. Then of course Siku, she didn't even look tired, she was licking down her legs, a surprising behavior, that cats usually did.

"What's up Siku?" Balto asked, hinting on what she was doing.

"Oh, I learned this from watching a cat, it's a good way to keep your fur clean and slick. It cleans the oils out so your fur can become looser, and it lets cold air into my skin." Siku proudly explained. Balto would take note of this.

"Interesting, I'll try that sometime." Balto said with a smile. Kodi walked over and looked at Siku. She was barely fazed from the run, and looked like she could run four times further before needing any kind of break.

"Well, you sure are a wolf." He said. She was cute looking with her fur cleaned and flattened a bit by her licking it. It looked like she was eating snow and melting it to water to pour in her fur. Smart.

"Yeah, I had to train myself to hunt, well, Aniu used to show me how in my dreams. She was so nice to take the time to teach me. I think she felt guilty that she couldn't teach you, Balto, the same way." Siku guessed.

"Yeah, so how is she?" Balto asked curiously.

"She's wonderful, other than the way she looks; you already know that, her personality matches her beauty. But sometimes she can have a bit of bad temp-" Siku was cut off by Mr. Simpson, who rounded up the others. He waited until Ralph, who always seemed to be the last one to recover, to be ready to run again. And with a command, they were off. They reached their destination an hour later, White Mountain. This happened so routinely the others minus Balto and Siku didn't pay much attention, they just waited patiently until the mail was taken and the return mail was loaded onto the sled. They were allowed to rest again and Mr. Simpson got water for them. He examined the dogs like he always did, checking for anything causing pain stuck on their paws, or any other injuries. Then he got to Balto.

"Ah, how's Kodi's replacement lead dog doing?" He chuckled a bit, both at him replacing Kodi, and at calling Balto a dog. He knew well enough that Balto was as much dog as anyone else on the team... Well mostly everyone. He went up to Siku, but she couldn't hold it back, it seemed to be involuntary. She growled and lowered herself to the ground.

"Woah, girl. Balto, get your wolf friend." He joked, surprisingly to him, both Balto and Kodi seemed to comfort her, and it looked like they were telling her it was alright. She loosened up a bit and stood up to reach the man's hand.

"That's a good girl, mind if I take a look?" He said as he slowly lifted her paw. She quietly whimpered, then looked to Kodi. He looked very worried that Siku might bite Mr. Simpson. She just smiled to reassure that she won't, allowing Kodi to rest peacefully.

"My, my, what big paws you have? Your short legs sure know how to carry you. I didn't see the slightest bit of a problem with you running right center, just the opposite, Kodi's side seemed to be pulling left." Kodi growled at himself in frustration, he didn't quite fix his "adjustments" to his rivals harness and it was making it look like Kodi was falling behind.

"Let's see, paws clean. No scrapes on your legs, I must say, you have a beautiful coat." She just nodded in thanks. "Let's see those chompers of yours." He lifted her lips to examine her teeth. "Wow, scary, but you're all good. Ralph let's see what you stepped in this time..." As Mr. Simpson walked off to Ralph.

"What was the man doing to me?" Siku asked.

"He was just making sure you're in tip top shape. We sled dogs need to be well and fit to run such long trips." Kodi answered as he stretched and flexed his chest.

Both Siku and Kodi stopped and looked at Balto. He was about 10 feet away from the rest and sniffing the air. He had a concerned face on him, a worrisome look.

"Dad, what is it?" Kodi asked, but Balto didn't respond right away.

"Huh? What?" He said about 10 seconds later. "Oh, the wind was with us the entire time, I can pick up scents from a good 20 miles up the trail..." He said, and continued smelling.

"What are you looking for? Or have you already found it..." Kodi asked.

"Blood. Kodi, someone is hurt, they're really far off. Down the trail, I can't get any better info on whom, or even what it is. We would have to check it out on the way back.

The sun seemed to disappear almost instantly. A massive storm cloud covered everything past Nome to the west, and wasn't far from covering White mountain too.

They turned as Mr. Simpson gave a command.

"YEEAAWWW, let's go dogs, and uh, wolves. We aren't running in this storm, my old friend Charlie will shelter us as we wait it out." Mr. Simpson has grown used to talking to his dogs as if they actually understood him, they seemed to understand him, and they listened to him, so it was good enough. The dogs followed Simpson and his friend as they entered the garage of a large house. It must have been the biggest house in White Mountain, its garage alone was more than enough to accommodate 9 dogs. Balto and Kodi sent back with Simpson to help bring the sled inside. Balto was not happy about having to wait a whole night to return to Jenna. This entire thing stressed him out; he was worried the entire time. What was that faint smell of blood from earlier? Was he losing his mind? He ignored his thoughts and returned to the group, they were listening to Ralph tell a story of a past ordeal with Kodi and Dusty as he walked in on them doing something… Kodi was obviously not happy with this story and he jumped on Ralph, tackling the larger dog on the ground, and the others soon followed. Balto sat back and watched, even Siku looked like she was having fun, she flipped Saba on her back and went in for the "kill", before she could, Saba threw her off. The dogs played around for awhile until Mr. Simpson entered the room.

"Alright guys, alright, we're already short 2 members, let's not have to borrow a dog from this town just to return home." He joked, coming down the stairs with a huge bag of dog food. All dogs except for Balto, Siku and Kodi crowded around Mr. Simpson. He threw out a handful to tease them as the dogs searched for each and every small bite of food, then proceeded to pour 9 bowls of food in disposable trays. Balto and Kodi walked up now, and signaled Siku to come over. She was still wary of the Human, though not nearly as much as first. But she knew this dog food stuff wasn't all that bad, remembering her breakfast. On command 8 of the dogs froze, in front of their respective bowls.

"Charlie, come check this out!" Simpson called.

"What?" Charlie said from the other room, he could be heard running down the stairs and when he reached the bottom he smiled at the sight. "Wow that sure is impressive, you got 8 out of 9 dogs to stand still!" he said and pointed at Siku. Siku was oblivious to all of this, she saw the other dogs sit still, and figured they were playing some kind of game. She ignored this and walked up to her bowl and was about to start eating.

"pssst, Siku, get in line!" Kodi said playfully.

"Why? I'm sure we're all hungry, why do you all freeze for this human?"

"Aw, dangit, our new Wolf replacement broke formation. Guess it wasn't fair, I never had her on the team before, matter of fact; I've never even seen her in town. And I'm sure I'd recognize such a cute puppy. Be it Wolf or Dog." Simpson talked to his friend for a while more.

It got quiet for a second, before the door shot open, the wind literally broke its way in. All 11 of them shivered at the cold subzero temperatures that filled the otherwise warm garage.

"Whoa! Let's get this thing closed." Charlie signaled to Simpson, they struggled to lift the door, which seemed to have lodged into the piece of wood on the floor. Balto ran over to help, being smaller; he squeezed his way between the door and the wall, and used his hind legs to push the door with all his strength. All 3 combined efforts dislodged the door and Charlie shut and locked it.

"Wow I can't believe how smart this Balto is. Are you sure he isn't just a human child in a wolf costume?" Charlie joked.

"I have no idea, I knew he was intelligent, I mean, what dog would have did what he did to save the entire town, he wasn't even trained for it!"

Charlie and walked back to their couch, still talking about Balto.

This made Balto uneasy, and he walked to Charlie and barked loud at him.

"I guess he doesn't like us talking about him! Ha-ha" Charlie laughed and tried to pet Balto. He moved out of the man's reach, who, in turn leaned out further. The man was a bit drunk as he leaned towards Balto more. Balto moved his head a split second before he could touch him, and smiled in satisfaction as Charlie fell out of his chair, and lay on the floor laughing.

"Ol' Balto has tricks too!" Mr. Simpson said in-between laughter. Charlie could barely get up, he was still laughing. Obviously a bit wasted from Vodka shots earlier. Balto and a few other dogs ran up and played with Charlie who was vulnerable on the floor. They bit at him softly and tugged at his shirt, Charlie just lay there laughing. He finally got up and pushed Balto away playfully, then returned to his chair.

"Man these dogs of yours, Simpson, I swear." Charlie said wiping dirt and saliva off of his arms.

"Yep they're something alright." added.

This entire time Siku sat back, she observed these dogs, and how they acted with their Human master. She tried to compare them to a normal wolf pack, to no avail. They were too weird for a normal pack, he chose Mr. Simpson as the Alpha of this pack, but Balto showed as much, if not more, power and respect as him. She figured dogs were completely different animals from wolves. But she considered herself a dog now, and she was happy to be part of both worlds. She often wondered why Wolves and Dogs hated each other; it was just as stupid as a white-furred wolf hating another wolf just because their fur was Black. (Familiar?) From what her inexperienced brain, it just looked like dogs and wolves just acted differently, though they looked almost similar.

"Hey, Siku, why are you alone back here?" Kodi asked.

"I was just watching you guys. I won't feel comfortable "playing" with everyone; I might accidentally hurt someone…" She said shameful of her huge canines.

"Nonsense, a cute little wolf like you won't hurt a thing!" Kodi assured her. She smiled and walked over to Balto. Siku noted how Balto was much older than everyone else here, yet he acted like one of them, playing like he was a pup. She got low on her front legs and shook her tail a bit before pouncing on top of Balto. She bit very carefully into Balto's neck and flipped him all the way over, a move that she used to fight off the bear, though, to a much lesser extent. A few dogs stepped back at this impressive feat, she managed to flip a dog easily 3 times her size on his back. Balto was stunned on the floor, what the hell happened? The back of his neck was hurting, he turned over to investigate, Siku was still dead locked into his fur and she was tugging at him. He laughed and tried to reach back taking snaps at Siku, with no luck. She was too far from his reach, finally she let go and ran behind Kodi. Balto got up and put his "kill" face on, stalking Siku. Kodi was scared and slowly moved away, exposing Siku. She only yipped with surprise as Balto grabbed her neck and flipped her. She couldn't move, he locked his teeth into her fur. Balto was just playing, but Siku took it instinctively, she started growling and quickly snapped at Balto's ear. Balto howled in pain at this and tried to shake Siku off, but it didn't work. Siku snapped out of it and let go quickly, hoping she didn't tear it off completely. Charlie and Mr. Simpson got up and went over to investigate, Siku was hiding in the corner and Balto was being examined by Charlie.

"Looks like someone bit Balto a little hard on the ears, he's fine though. " Then they returned to their couch.

He shook his head and looked at Siku, he fought off the involuntary growl that formed in his chest, he wasn't mad at her, and he still wanted to assure her it's alright.

"I'm… I'm sorry Balto, I don't know what… Something took me over, I only felt that way when I had to hunt or when I fought off the bear." Siku was terrified, if Balto was going to kill her, she'd let him do it.

Balto showed his teeth for a second, growling, Siku just curled up into a ball and expected the worst. Balto couldn't hold onto it any longer, he let out a loud laugh that was quickly followed by Kodi, and the rest of the dogs. He nudged her body, what was tightly curled up, and licked her ear to assure her it was alright.

"its fine Siku, haha, that's how dogs play, granted you may have taken it too far, but everyone does every once and a while." Balto comforted her.

"Yeah, I remember me and Ralph were pissed at each other for 2 days because he "accidentally" bit my leg and made it bleed, I couldn't walk on it for a week!" Kirby said.

"You big baby, it was nothing, just a skin injury." Ralph replied. Him and Kirby laughed.

"I guess I have much to learn about dog behavior. In a wolf pack I would have been killed by now." Siku finally said, she got up on her feet and walked over to Mr. Simpson.

"Look, she's going to try and be a dog." Kodi joked to his father.

"Let's watch, shall we?" Balto said to him, and the rest.

Siku tapped at Charlie's leg and gave out a small whimper.

"Ah, the wolf puppy, playing nicely with Balto I see?" Charlie joked. He reached down and pet her on the head, scratching behind her ears. She was uneasy at first, but let herself relax at the magical scratching the human was doing behind her ears. It felt good; she could not reach that spot herself no matter how much she tried. She couldn't fight an incredible urge in her left leg, it started to move on its own, and pounding the floor as Charlie scratched under her chin. What the hell was this? Her leg was going crazy! But she didn't do anything about it.

"Hah, what a cute puppy, I can hardly believe this is a wolf. I wonder if she's a lapdog, err, Lapwolf? Wolflap? Charlie stopped his drunk stammering and picked Siku up. She yelped in surprise, but looked at Balto for confirmation, he nodded to her with a smile, and she smiled back. He placed her on his lap and began to stroke her back; it felt like a massage to her, it made her want to sleep.

"Hah, that's no wolf there, Charlie, that's just a puppy." Mr. Simpson said, even he didn't know what the wolf's name was, and he knew he had no way of asking it.

"Okay, okay, you're defiantly a lapdog." Charlie said as he put her down. She put a paw on Charlie's leg and whimpered a bit. Charlie looked at her for a second, he reached over and tried to pet her but she moved her head down, low to the ground. Charlie was a bit more wasted now, and he seemed to forget Balto's little trick earlier. He reached down lower, and she moved her head from under his hand, he didn't stop moving his hand down, and fell over forward, doing a complete roll before landing on his back.

"Charlie! Charlie, you drunk nut, the dogs tricked you again!" Mr. Simpson said before bursting into laughter. Charlie just laid down and fell asleep, ignoring the dogs licking and biting him everywhere.

"Alright, Charlie, you've had enough for one beer and two more-" Mr. Simpson struggled to finish his sentence, which made no sense in the first place. He leaned over and tried not to fall over, and lifted Charlie's hand around his shoulder. And the two walked up the stairs. "Good night dogs, you have so much to live for you for see what when the sun comes up in the sky to set freedom-"Mr. Simpson said more, but it faded away as he closed the door to the garage at the top of the stairs.

Ralph was already asleep, cuddled next to Saba, Kirby, Diego and the other 3 dogs. Kodi lay down next to his sister, and seemed to ask Siku with his eyes if she wanted to sleep next to him. She nodded and walked over to Kodi, and lay down. Balto smiled at this sight and lay with his back facing the couple, but close enough so that Siku could rest a paw on his back.

Balto drifted off to sleep after putting the fun thoughts of today behind, and finally shooing away the nagging worrisome thoughts of Jenna out of his mind. Siku fell asleep in almost the same matter, finally able to rest easy that she told every one of her dreams. But her hopes of sleeping easy tonight were not going to happen… Neither for her, or Balto.

* * *

Balto's dream, Balto first person.

My eyes shot open at the sound of a scream from a familiar voice, Rosy. Why was did I hear Rosy's scream? My mind was playing tricks on me, but maybe it was because I was a bit dehydrated. I looked around for a second before realizing that there was no water anywhere in the garage. I accepted that I would not be able to drink anything, but man was my mouth dry. I examined over the sleeping dogs, Ralph and Kirby were snuggled a bit close together due to the other dogs pushing them closer together, I knew I could joke about it to them in the morning. Then I looked over at Saba, who rested her head on Kodi's neck. I felt a smile creep on my face at the sight of my pups so cute sleeping together, then my smile widened as I saw Siku snuggled tightly next to Kodi. She was so small, it was a surprise that Kodi's seemingly giant body didn't roll over her and crush her. I shook my head at my own humor and looked got up to walk around. I was thirsty and thought about where I could get something to drink. _"You thick-headed wolf, there's a ton of frozen water outside!_" I thought, then walked over to the garage door. Was I going crazy? I thought I saw rays of sunlight shine through the cracks where ripping winds should have shot through. I pulled the garage door open and to my surprise, the air was calm, and only a steady light snow fell from the sky. The town was dark, much darker than Nome was at this time of night. The smaller population didn't use much lighting at night, so the only lights on the street were from the windows of the houses and buildings. I walked out and checked the sky again, the Moon was high in the sky, and the cloudless night sky showed many stars and also proved that the sun was not out. I guessed that it was around midnight, so the sun wouldn't shine through for at least 10 more hours. The snow beneath my paws was wet, the warmer spring winds that blew softly from the west caused it to melt. I knelt down and scooped a mouthful of cleaner snow along the wall of the building, I did this a few times before licking my lips in satisfaction. I turned to head back inside, but a familiar scent caught my nose… It was Dusty again.

"Okay, I must be going crazy now, what the hell would Dusty be doing in White Mountain?" I jokingly accepted that I was going insane, ignored the smell and turned to head back inside, but the smell was tainted with something else… Blood. I sighed then turned back to follow the smell, it led to the forest. Ignoring all logic, I followed the scent deep into the forest, I didn't care, all I wanted was to find the source, I walked for a long time, following the scent, it was easy to follow, the smell was clear as anything, in fact, it was the only smell I could detect. The forest was starting to look all too familiar, then I walked past the tree line and froze. I stared in front of me at the little town of Nome.

"_No.. It couldn't be... I walked all the way home? Impossible_." My logic side said, but everything else told me to continue following the scent.

My pace turned into a run as I followed it to the edge of the ocean. I looked to my right and saw my boat, but didn't care to go visit it right now. Dusty's scent wore off and I growled in frustration. I had just followed a scent 100 miles back home for it to just end? I walked into town, I wanted so much to see if Jenna was awake so I could hug and kiss her and tell her how much I missed her. Oh boy did I miss her. I walked past the vets office and snapped my head to the left, knowing that a certain pathetic and perverted dog was laying in there half dead. The humans were back again to cheer me on, as if I had just returned from the life saving serum run. I walked over to one to let her pet me, but she vanished. In fact they all vanished, the town was completely empty, empty of both smells and sounds. Voices echoed in my head as the ghosts of the past chanted my name. It was a bit scary, so I took off to run a bit faster. I ran past the alleyway, the alley I found Siku at, and froze as another familiar scent filled my nose. It was none other than Siku. I stopped at the end of the alley and poked my head out and looked around the corner. Sure enough Siku was walking alone towards Jenna's house. I watched as she jumped through the doggy door.

"What the hell is she doing? Everyone is surely asleep right now." I thought as I walked up for a better look. I found a trash can to hide behind and sat waiting for a few seconds. Just 10 seconds later, I heard Siku growling and she jumped back out of the Doggy door. She was dragging something with her… It was a body. My mouth opened at this sight, Siku had killed someone and was dragging their body out again, towards the forest. I ran after her as she turned the corner and ran full speed with the body towards the tree line.

"Siku!" I yelled. She didn't react, she just kept dragging the body. I ran up to her and saw who it was… I froze as I saw it was the lifeless form of Rosy.

"Siku what are you doing?" I asked stupidly. I knew damn well what she did, but I was not as furious as I thought. Suddenly I felt something take my body over. I felt something cold climb up my back and entered my left ear. I shivered and tried to shake it off, but it didn't work. I felt it enter my very brain, then I froze again.

"You cannot resist the demons inside you, Balto." A mysterious voice rang in my head as I tried to shake free, but my body wasn't responding. I was frozen, as I watched Siku drag Rosy into the distance. Eventually it took hold, my body was no longer mine. My thoughts no longer me. I was walking, but wasn't controlling it. I was under full control of the demons inside of me, I watched helpless as my paws began to pull myself into a full running speed to catch up with Siku. As my body neared hers, I heard the demons talking. Both of us were being controlled by a spirit. The spirit of Amarok.

My body reached down to help pull Rosy's body towards the forest. Siku just continued her blank stare into Rosy's head as she pulled her shirt. My ears perked up as I turned and saw Jenna running after me. I wanted so much to be able to talk to her, to tell her it wasn't me, or Siku's fault, I knew she wouldn't believe me anyway, but I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to hug her, tell her I loved her, but the demons wouldn't allow it. Both me and Siku let go of Rosy and ran towards Jenna. I saw her speaking, but couldn't hear it.

"Balto, Siku why are you doing this? I won't let you take her!" Jenna yelled at Siku, but she didn't hear it.

Jenna was crying at the sight of Rosy's body. She wasn't dead… Yet. Leave that for Nehalem to decide, the demons told my brain.  
I watched helplessly as my body sat down and let Siku take care of it. Siku attacked Jenna and fought her off. I was screaming, and crying in my mind, I wanted to protect her, but my body didn't respond. The demons made me watch as Siku took a snap at Jenna's neck, she bit down hard for the kill and Jenna only let out a terrifyingly shallow high pitched scream before her body relaxed. I screamed in my mind, trying to fight off the demons that controlled me, it was no use. I had just seen my love die, but the job wasn't done, my body went back to dragging Rosy into the forest. I didn't care anymore, I let the demons take me over completely. For the next few hours my body worked with other wolves to form traps. I was a zombie in the group as I listened to Nehalem's preaching and planning to kill off the entire town. He dismissed us and my body walked over to a nearby cave and let me free. The spirit slipped out of my ears and shot up towards the sky. I collapsed, tired, not wanting to get up ever again, I just lay down and cried.

"Balto! Oh god, I can't believe it's you!" I knew it was Siku, but didn't care to turn to meet her.

"You are… you right?" Siku asked. I nodded in reply, after all, I know it wasn't her that killed Jenna. I heard her burst into tears as she walked over to me and buried her face into my side and soaked it with tears.

"Balto… I" Siku struggled to say.

"I know it wasn't you Siku, but please leave, I want to be alone." I replied coldly. Deep down I didn't want her to leave, she was the only real thing in this world, and the only thing I could trust.

"W-what? I can't… I need… to be with you." Siku replied. I just turned my head the other way and returned a paw over my face to hide my tears. Eventually I accepted her choice to stay here, and turned my head to her to lick her in comfort. She was still crying, and a single lick threw her into a higher gear and started crying more as she returned her face into my side. I curled my head onto her back and closed my eyes.

We rested for a few hours and eventually got to the point where we stopped crying. It started raining as I heard another scream… Both me and Siku perked up and faced the sound… It was Kodi.

"No… Not again…Please…" I said desperately, and jumped to my feet and ran towards the sound. Siku followed closely behind. A terrible sound filled my ears, apart from Kodi whimpering in pain, new sounds came from the source, I finally reached them and saw as Kodi was being fought by invisible entities. Kodi had fought off being controlled by the demons, and now they were going to make him pay. I was not going to let them, and I sensed that Siku wasn't going to either. Both me and Siku ran to Kodi's aid, and tried to fight off.. Nothing. There was nothing to fight off, Kodi was being harmed by nothing. I looked in his eyes and saw that he was fighting the demons off in his mind. I could only comfort him and cheer him on. I was in full control of my mind and body, but I was still helpless. Even I couldn't fight them off. I watched without being able to help as Kodi snapped, and he fell to the ground. Did he win? Or did the demons finally have enough and ended his life. I got my answer as blood began to pour out of his nose, eyes and mouth… And fainted as my heart couldn't take the loss of another family member. I closed my eyes as I heard Siku cry out in pain, she too would soon be killed by the demons.

* * *

Balto woke up as shaken as he was last night. He shook his head more, trying to shake away the thoughts… But eventually just turned to his side and fought off crying yet again. So far his dreams have killed off Kodi, Jenna, Dusty and now Rosy? What were they trying to tell him? He tried to close his eyes again, but found it hard to stay still, his body was still trembling at the sight of Jenna, Kodi and now Rosy, die in his dreams, and this prevented him from sleeping. He opened his eyes instantly at a feeling, Siku was fast asleep, but she was licking his back for some reason. It still soothed him, no matter how weird it felt. Then he rested his head on the ground and closed his eyes one more time.

Balto deleted the thoughts from his brain and finally, this time, drifted into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

So just a random story fact read or not, it isn't important.  
Siku is loosely based off of a girl that I used to hang out with, at the time she was 13, I was 16, but she wanted to be with me, well that isn't all true, I wanted to be with her too. But the age difference, it just wouldn't work. Plus the fact that she was small, like Siku, it wouldn't look right with a 6'1" man like me. I'm glad to say that she is currently with a younger friend of mine and that I know will do a good job of protecting her. I'm like Balto in this sense, and my friend, who is 14, is like Kodi. Funny right?

Anyway, Chapter 5 coming soon, possibly today.


	5. Too late

**Introducing… MORE OC's! YAY, but uh, yeah. Nehalem = leader.**

**Drago, Mason, Drakken = friends/supporters of Nehalem. Mason is related to someone we know. Who knows who it is? Whoever it is, we will also learn the heritage of that certain someone. HA, now you have to read to find out**

* * *

Nehalem.

Nehalem was starting to be pissed off. His comrades, Mason and Drago were still nowhere to be found.

"God damnit, go find them!" He barked at Drakken.

Nehalem angrily ripped a tree branch off and tossed it aside, as he returned to his den. He sat and stared out into the dark forest that surrounded him, all of his followers were sleeping below. He had sent Drago and Mason on a job 4 hours earlier and they have yet to return.

He was a large wolf, quite larger than Balto, and matched nearly with height of the legendary Kavik** ((c) baltoluver63)**. All of his body except for his belly was the color of darkness; his chest only shaded a bit lighter gray color. He had multiple scars from previous fights; after all, he did take over the pack by force. He was the alpha, and he forced the members to follow him, they were willing, given the consequences that would ensue if they didn't. It wasn't enough for some members, they tried to stop him from carrying out his evil deeds, some refused to do what he said, but anyone who disobeyed him vanished that night, not a single trace of them the next morning. Nehalem did not follow Aniu's teachings that every wolf received at a young age. He chose to follow a more powerful leader; he chose the word of Amarok the Great. A perfect deity that accepted Nehalem's evil deeds, he was fulfilling Amarok's wishes to clean the earth of the human scum and anyone that supported the humans. Eventually Nehalem interpreted Amarok's teachings to claim that the Domesticated Dogs were the biggest abomination the humans have ever brought to wolf kind. And with that, Nehalem vowed to kill any Human, or Dog he saw, and by extension, everyone in his pack agreed to do so. Many of them were loyal thanks to Amarok's "tweaking" added a little bit of brainwashing, and Nehalem had a perfect army of Human/dog hating fighting machines.

He closed his eyes as his plan would soon come to fruition. The pack traveled all around northern and western Alaska, they were alone responsible for over 100 deaths in the upper northwest territory of Alaska. By using the blizzards and erasing evidence, they usually got away with it, and the FBI would consider them a "Mysterious Disappearance". A flag that rarely ever got looked into. Now the pack was stationed dangerously close to Nome, in-between White Mountain and the town. Nome would be by far the largest settlement they would attempt to overtake. But they didn't travel hundreds of miles towards the ocean to visit Nome without reason. News of Balto's rescue spread to the pack quickly, he was granted the title "Most wanted" by the pack. He was what Nehalem would hate the most, a cross breed of pure wolf blood, and contamination of the abomination known as dogs. Plus, it was also no surprise that Amarok wanted the spawn of Aniu dead.

Nehalem's eyes opened quickly as he turned his head to see Mason and Drago.

"It's about god damn time, what news do you bring?" Nehalem snarled.

"it's wonderful boss, a good number of threats are no longer in town, they seem to be out on a mail run and got caught up in a little blizzard, and they're currently stuck in White Mountain. Without them, there are little less than 2 Dozen dogs, and an excess of 600 Humans." Drago proudly explained.

"Ahaha! Then let our plan commence!" Nehalem nodded to Mason and Drago as they left. He walked to the edge of his den; it was about 10 feet above the ground the others rested on.

"Listen up; I've gotten word that the town of Nome is a bit, well, unprotected. Now is the time, we need to make our presence known. The abomination known as dogs will be eliminated, and with them, we could take our time killing off the entire town of Nome in a single summer!" He announced, he seemed happy at the thought, and the others reflected his happiness. Cheers filled the forest as they were finally going to make their presence known on the town. There were 30 wolves in all; they knew taking out a couple dozen spoiled dogs would be no problem, and the humans? It was all matters of stealth; Nehalem planned that each night they would break into houses and kill them in their sleep. He smiled at this devious thought.

"For now, I will man the first part of the plan, only me and Drago will enter town in stealth, for there is a little girl we've got our eyes on that will put the entire town on alert" He smiled as he walked off, preparing to turn the town upside-down.

* * *

White Mountain.

Siku woke up in a hurry, she was freaking out a little bit too much, and she stood up and looked around at everyone who was fast asleep. Without a better plan, she simply barked loud and howled to wake everyone up. She howled louder and jumped on a few of them. Some were asking what her problem was, some just ignored it and went back to sleep.

"Siku, what the hell is going on?" Balto asked, as he stretched.

"Yeah, I was having a great dream, I was-"Kodi was cut off by Siku.

"Shut up! Uh, I mean, I had a dream too, Kodi… Rosy is going to be killed soon! Everyone.. We have to go! NOW!" She calmed a bit as she finished her sentence.

"W-what?" Balto asked.

"Oh god, we need to go, we need to protect her!" Siku yelled frantically as she ran around the room.

"No… It can't be… Siku, you killed her right? I mean, not you, but the demons who controlled you… I was there" Balto said.

"I…" Siku couldn't hold back anymore, she cried into Balto's neck again, the dream scarred her mentally.

"I just met her today… She's so nice. I can't believe I had to kill her, even if it was just a dream" She said crying.

The others were a bit confused about this, even though they knew Siku's story, and how her dreams were often a sign.

"Well we can't just leave out in a blizzard due to a dream." Balto refused to believe these nightmares would come true, he wouldn't believe the possibility that so many of his close loved ones and friends would be killed.

"Damnit Balto, don't you get it! These dreams mean something! It's Aniu's way of warning us!" She said as she shook Balto's muzzle, and yelled it in his face. Balto took a step back, he was staring ahead at nothing. He knew Siku was right, but he didn't want to believe it.

"Alright… okay, what do we do? We can't just leave Mr. Simpson here." Balto finally said.

"He'll be fine, we'll come back before the sun even rises." Kirby said.

"No, we don't all have to go, I'll go alone." Balto offered.

"Ha! Like that's going to happen." Saba said.

"Yeah, I'm going too." Kodi added.

Several of the others also offered to go.

"Balto, if mine, and your dreams are correct, there might be a whole pack invading Nome. We'd need everyone's help." Siku said gravely.

"I know… My dreams have already predicted Dusty's disappearance." Balto said in a low voice, then he looked over to Kodi.

"It's my fault, isn't it?" Kodi said, seemingly to Kirby.

"It's nobody's fault, Dusty wanted to be alone, I'm sure she's safe and sound somewhere…" Balto said before Kirby could answer, he knew that the dogs checked everywhere in town for her, but secretly guessed that she was on the roof of a building somewhere hidden from sight and scent. Balto felt bad for her, she was probably crying up there alone for the night, he promised to go check if she was actually up there when they got back to Nome. Then his terrible train of thought led down another path, what if Dusty was indeed murdered, and soon to follow would probably be Jenna or Rosy. He accepted the thoughts, be it true or not, he'd have to find out himself.

*Sigh* "We… I have to leave now, I don't care who comes, I need to make sure Jenna and Rosy are safe." Balto said as he turned and walked towards the door of the garage. He looked back and smiled when it became apparent that everyone else was also going with him. He pulled the door open and an entire layer of snow blanketed the garage almost immediately. He shook his head and left whatever warmth the garage offered and started running towards the forest.

"Guys! We will have to stick to the forest the entire way, the blizzard is too strong, and the winds are against us, it'd literally blow us back. We'll have to keep close together otherwise one of us might get lost." He yelled at the top of his lungs, looking to the faces of each dog to make sure they understood him. The dogs all knew Balto had experience navigating in a blizzard, they trusted him completely. After a second they were off, Balto ran ahead of them, followed by Kodi, Siku and the rest. It was a force of habit that they happened to try to run in sled dog formation, but they were happy to keep it that way, it'd make the run easier on all of them. Their speed was sluggish in comparison to how fast they ran to get here, the wind was with them then, and now a whole Blizzard was against them. "We won't make it in time…" Balto thought, and with it, he ran faster, not caring if the others were able to keep up. Using tricks he taught himself, he ran low to the ground, lowered his head and ears, and ran behind trees, using them as cover. It wasn't until they got into the denser forest that the blizzard failed to slow them, and all that stood in-between them and Nome was the top speed of their running. The tall trees formed a protective barrier over them, shielding them from snowfall, and the thousands of tree trunks worked well to slow the wind. The blizzard was now above them, and their only obstacle was avoiding collisions with the trees.

They were running for two hours now and Balto was surprised he even knew where they were.

"Guys, a mile to the right is the half-way point from earlier, we're almost home." Balto yelled back. He heard their collective sounds of complaint, but ignored it, for the run was taking a toll on him as well. He started feeling sick, as if his stomach were to explode, was it the cold? Was he pushing himself too hard? Or was it a pure worrisome feeling that was building up and was now getting to him. He ignored it still, and pushed on. Eventually they got to the river, it was no longer frozen over, and the blizzard contributed to its volume as it rose to the banks and overflowed the valley.

"You have got to be kidding me…" Balto yelled angrily, only when he came to a stop did he realize that he was exhausted. He was sure his legs wouldn't start up again if he so much as stopped to look around, so he paced back and forth along the flowing river. "Why the hell isn't it frozen over?"

"We're in the middle of a blizzard, Balto, but to the East where this river started, it's still spring there." Siku answered. Balto was surprised how wise this young wolf was, but remembered that she was raised in part by his own mother. He looked to the others, they were also exhausted, but they weren't panting, the sub-zero temperatures worked well to freeze their bodies, down to the bone… Balto knew they couldn't stand this blizzard much longer, and they were only about half way home. Balto looked around, panicking a bit, he knew they needed to rest and warm up, but where? Through the blizzard he saw a cave on the far side of the valley, it was their only hope.

"We need to get out of this storm for a bit." He yelled over to the rest. "There's a cave on the other side of this river, we need to find a way across." Balto said, he knew there wasn't going to be an easy way to get across without swimming it. He looked upriver and saw a huge ice flow breaking apart. A single large slab at least 30 feet across came from it, and it would have made a good enough temporary bridge.

"Come on everyone, we're going to jump on that ice slab!" He said as he pointed his nose towards the approaching ice.

Kodi had to squint his eyes to see through the ripping blizzard. He observed the Ice flow and figured that it was indeed the only way across, but logic took it's turn to talk.

"Are you crazy? We'd be lucky to make it _on_ the ice, let alone be able to run across it. The wind would throw us off easily!" Kodi yelled back.

"It's our only hope Kodi." Balto replied softly. He knew it was a risky move, but started running towards it, and the others followed.

They met the ice in time to jump on it as it scraped the edges of the river. It was running aground slightly, so it began to rotate slowly.

"Run towards the left! Counter the rotation!" Balto screamed to the rest. One by one they jumped on the ice and slid across it, none of them were able to stop, and the way they were sliding led straight to the front of the iceflow. Balto panicked and bit Saba's neck, combining their masses to cause them to stop. The others crashed into them and he yelled at them to do the same. The dogs all bit another's' neck, and the event created one single mass of dogs that caused them all to slow to a stop, all except for Siku and Kodi, Ralph had missed his snap at him. Kodi was holding onto Siku, all the way until the two came to a stop on the edge of the ice. Siku slipped off and was being held by Kodi, frozen waters and risk of being sucked under the ice flow just feet below her. She let out a high pitched whimper as she looked at the death under her. Kodi held onto her tight but couldn't pull her up. There just wasn't good enough traction on the ice for him to be able to pull her back. All of the dogs successfully made it across the ice flow and jumped to the bank across. Balto was the last to jump off, but before he could, he heard Siku's whimpering, and turned to see Kodi struggling to keep her from falling. Instantly he ran over to help, but froze for a second as the ice flow broke free and began drifting down river yet again. He ran carefully to avoid slipping off the edge himself, but to no avail, he lost his footing, slipped, and slid towards Kodi. He would crash into him and all three of them would plunge into the freezing waters. He acted quickly and in order to save his son and Siku, he jumped over them to avoid a collision. For a split second, he saw as both Kodi and Siku fell into the water anyway. He closed his eyes preparing for the stinging cold water that could kill in less than 30 seconds.

Instead of this, he collided with the ground in a shallow splash. The river was only a few inches deep at this point. He sighed as he got up, thankful that he didn't have to swim for his life, but quickly realized Kodi and Siku didn't get the same privilege. Both of them were in deeper waters in the middle of the river. He looked behind the ice flow and saw water shooting out from under it. The choppy water caused it to shift about and drove it to crash into the shallow ground. Kodi and Siku were in a dangerous place, if they didn't get out of the water soon, they'd be either crushed, or sucked under the ice flow and become trapped there. Balto looked around for a second and saw a large branch. He ran over to get it, dragged it over to the side of the river, and lowered it, Siku and Kodi bit down hard on it and Balto pulled them up slowly. The Ice crashed into the bank just as Siku's tail escaped being caught. All three stayed lying down and panting for a while, both Kodi and Siku happy to have escaped with their lives as they watched the ice flow break apart soon after in the river and continued out of sight.

"I told you it was a bad idea!" Kodi said between panting. "But thanks." And smiled over to Balto. Then he got up and checked on Siku, she was shivering like crazy and covered her face with her paws. He looked back at Balto for a second as if asking something, Balto just nodded to him. Kodi turned back and looked at her for a second more, then lay down on top of Siku to warm her. She was freezing, her tiny body began to freeze from the outside-in much faster than Kodi or Balto would have. Balto saw this and came to lie down on the side of them, offering his body heat as well. Siku's shivering finally subsided a few minutes later and she moved her paws from her eyes.

"T-thanks g-g-guys." Her jaw still shaking as she spoke, making her stutter a bit.

"Of course Siku." Kodi answered as he looked over to Balto, who returned a smile. The water in their fur froze, but the cold didn't bother Kodi or Balto much at all, they were laying in a somewhat lower area hidden from the wind by the snow on one side, and the river bank on the other. The other dogs finally found them, and helped to warm the three.

"That was some quick thinking back there Balto." Kirby offered. "And Kodi, man if I haven't seen it myself, I wouldn't have believed how hard you were trying to keep Siku from falling."

Kodi and Balto ignored him for the most part, Siku was still in trouble, even her skin was starting to feel cold. Balto knew she'd be alright though, wolves didn't get sick as easily as dogs did. It was silent for a while until Balto stood and looked to the cave. It could not be seen through the blizzard, but he knew what direction it was in, it was obviously along the river, back upstream. How far, he didn't know.

"The sun isn't going to show for at least 7 more hours… We need to leave soon." Balto said. "Kodi, you and someone else take Siku back to the cave, you guys keep her warm and-" Siku cut him off as she slipped from under Kodi. Balto smiled as he observed her endurance. Nothing could stop this wolf.

"I'm fine Balto, the run will warm me up." Siku said.

"Are you sure? You might get sick if you don't warm up and rest." Balto said with a concerned voice.

"If I get sick, I'll deal with it. If Rosy dies because of my weakness, I won't be able to deal with that." Siku said, Balto was amazed by her selflessness, it reminded him of himself. "Maybe it runs in wolf genetics." Balto thought with a smile.

"If you're sure you can continue, then I can't deny that we need to leave now." Balto said.

"Let's go." Kirby said out of nowhere, he was ready to run. In fact, all of the dogs seemed to be unaffected by the blizzard, they were ready to get home and save Rosy.

"Let's hope this is worth your dream, Balto." Kirby said as he passed Balto. Balto was hoping too. He almost lost his son and Siku just based off a vague warning. Nevertheless, he carried on, if his dreams did mean something, he would be wasting time just standing here. Then he ran off to follow him, and the rest did the same, all heading into the dense forest that would shelter them all the way to Nome.

* * *

Nehalem and Drago, House Invasion.

Nehalem and Drago were nearing the forest edge, the town was still dead, and not a single dog or Human walked the streets. It was good that way, because Nehalem and Drago would most likely kill them, or at least tried to. They walked over to the side of a building and slipped into an alleyway. It would be a piece of cake, they'd just slip in through the doggy door that the humans stupidly left without any kind of lock.

"These Humans make it too easy for us; they make doors for their spoiled pets to enter. We'd only have to endure such atrocities for a second and use it to our advantage." Nehalem said to Drago.

"So what's the plan for when we get inside?" Drago asked.

"Simple, kill the dog, nice and quiet, then walk upstairs and make noise so that the girl opens the door to check, then you jump her and rip her throat out." Nehalem explained.

"Aw, boss, you're letting me kill this time? It's an honor."

"Well, think of it as your Christmas present, you need training anyway." Nehalem joked, Drago nodded and couldn't hide a wicked smile.

"So what of this dog?" Drago asked.

"Ah, she's a hot little piece of Husky, just an ordinary spoiled dog, should be a snap to end such a miserable life." Nehalem answered, though he was ruthless in everything else, he would not rape any of his victims, nor did he allow any of his followers to do such a deed. It was not in Amarok's favor to gain pleasure at the expense of others. Drago often joked that a major plot hole in Amarok's teachings allowed for the rape of victims _after_ you killed them. Nehalem never laughed at the necrophiliac joke, and his reply was always along the lines of, "Go ahead and rape a dead body, see if it makes you proud about yourself." To which Drago would admit it was just a joke.

As they neared Rosy and Jenna's house, their smile widened as they saw the lights were off inside. Drago walked over to the doggy door and tested it by pushing a paw into it. He smiled to Nehalem as he lowered his head in to investigate. Nehalem looked around and saw that no-one was inside, and the furnace was still lit. He continued on inside and Drago soon followed. Nehalem growled softly as he examined his surroundings. He looked around and saw a doggy bed, a bowl with food, and various dog toys. "Disgusting." Nehalem snarled under his breath. Drago nodded in agreement, and they walked up stairs. Nehalem stopped to let Drago continue, it was his turn to do the killing. As Drago reached the top of the stairs, the two froze as they heard footsteps from the room next to them. It was Rosy's mother, she turned and screamed as she saw two huge wolves in her home. Drago growled and jumped at her, attempting to kill this loud abomination. But this woman wasn't as defenseless as she looked. She fended off Drago's attack with a rolling pin, and quickly reached for her .22 Revolver on the counter. Drago's eyes widened as he caught sight of the gun that was pointed directly at him, he jumped off back through the doorway and down the hall. Both wolves jumped as they heard a loud gunshot. This woke up Rosy's Father, who jumped out of his room and began to kick Drago to death, Drago growled and tried to bite the mans foot, but he was wearing tough leather working boots, so it did nothing. Rosy and Jenna awoke and came to investigate the noise. Nehalem stopped attacking and yelled at Drago to ignore the parents and kill Rosy. Drago let go of the man's boot and ran after Rosy. Reacting quickly, Rosy slammed her bedroom door shut, and it knocked Drago backwards.

"God damnit break through Drago, I'll handle the humans!" Nehalem yelled back. Drago nodded and began throwing himself at the door. Jenna got in front of Rosy, ready to fight, she growled at the door and waited for it to be broken through, she was going to protect Rosy with her life if it came to it. Rosy on the other hand, wasn't interested in fighting, she opened the latch to the window above her bed and crawled out of it. She yelled for Jenna to follow, she obeyed and jumped though. Rosy shut the window just as Drago smashed through. Nehalem soon followed with blood pouring out of his mouth. Luckly Rosy didn't see it, Nehalem had stopped her parents once and for all…

Rosy and Jenna climbed over the window and got onto the roof. Rosy easily climbed down on the ground, but Jenna wasn't so lucky. She slipped and fell off the two story roof and hit her head hard on the cold ground. She got up right away, but was disoriented. She tried to walk, but couldn't, she was losing focus now, and finally collapsed, unconscious. "Rosy…" she let out before closing her eyes. Rosy ran to her side and tried to wake her, but it didn't work, and Jenna was too heavy to carry. She looked around and saw a box, and placed Jenna inside of it and dragged her as she walked. She was alone outside, in the dead of night wearing full pajamas. She walked around the building to her front door and started knocking. She figured her parents would soon open the door, but her parents never answered. Rosy had apparently forgotten there was a doggy-door. So she just sat down in front of her door and pet her unconscious dog.

"I hope mom and dad are alright…" She said to Jenna. "I hope you're alright…"

Balto slowed down a bit, the blizzard was all but gone, they had literally run out of it. They were just a few miles from home now, and the group of them was relieved. Balto froze to a full stop now as he looked around.

"What is it dad?" Kodi asked.

"Something is happening right now, I heard a sound… A gunshot." Balto said mysteriously.

"Maybe it's just hunters" Kodi offered.

"No, it came from Nome… It came from a Revolver." Balto knew gunshots all too well, having been shot at a few times himself. Kodi knew the wisdom in his father's words, he knew that nobody would be hunting using a revolver, and only a few people in Nome owned one, Rosy's family had one.

"We need to go… NOW!" Balto said, ignoring his own words, he ran full speed towards the town. New smells ripped by, he identified them as wolves, but paid no attention, they were long gone, and to Balto this was a bad sign. Finally, the forest ended and the path to Nome was clear. He looked up and saw that there wasn't a single cloud, it was a clear star filled sky, that surrounded a bright full moon. He focused on Jenna's house on the corner, there was defiantly something happening, he could hear screams. He looked to the roof just in time to see Rosy and Jenna climb out. He smiled a bit as he saw the two.

Balto was now well ahead of the others, Kodi and Siku were next in line, but were at least 200 meters behind him. Balto himself was less than a km from his destination. He watched Rosy climb down, but then his heart sank as he saw Jenna fall off the roof. He gasped at the sight, and again, pushed himself to run faster. He pushed a little bit too hard, lost his footing and tripped. This caused Balto to flip at least 3 full times before stopping. He was shaken up a bit and looked down to see blood, from what, he did not know, he didn't care. He started running again, but stopped in pain as he finally realized he'd cut open his left fore paw. He cried in pain but pressed on. A simple injury wasn't going to stop him from saving Rosy and Jenna. As he neared the town, just 300 meters away now, two huge wolves emerged from the side of Jenna's house. His heart sank; he knew why they were here.

* * *

Nehalem.

Nehalem angrily tore into Rosy's pillow, and caused feathers to fly everywhere, Drago was trying to jump at the window, but it was useless, the window was closed and he had no way of getting high enough.

"Stop trying to get out the window, the little girl has already returned to ground level." Nehalem said wisely. Drago stopped growling and nodded, then the two walked out the room.

"Great job on these two, Nehalem" Drago complimented, as he looked over the two lifeless bodies of Rosy's parents.

"They were starting to annoy me a bit." Nehalem replied. Drago just chuckled softly.

Drago and Nehalem walked down stairs and over to the doggy door. Nehalem smiled as he nudged for Drago to proceed him. Drago nodded and walked over to the door, he also smiled as he caught the scent of Rosy, who was sitting down just outside the door.

"This will be too easy." He thought.

Drago walked out of the doggy door, followed by Nehalem. Rosy screamed and ran off down the road. Drago just laughed evilly and walked after her, she wasn't going anywhere. Rosy screamed louder and got the attention of many sleeping families, who would be running outside soon.

"Now! Do it now! Drago, before the whole town wakes up!" Nehalem yelled.

Drago obeyed, he ran after Rosy and prepared to jump on her. Just in time for Balto to turn the corner and saw what was happening. He ignored the screams of Balto behind him as he jumped to Rosy. She turned just in time to see Balto and saw that Jenna woke up, but was knocked over by Drago. He snapped just one time at her neck, ripping into it.

And with that, Rosy was dead.

* * *

Balto.

Balto finally reached the light of the town, and he turned the corner quick. He looked over to Jenna, and, without a better plan, simply ran into the box she was in, hoping to wake her. He stopped after knocking her out of the box and licked her muzzle to wake her. She opened her eyes, and immediately began panicking.

"Balto! Rosy!" She said.

"No… NO!" Balto said over Jenna as he looked down the road, and bolted off after Drago.

It was too late. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Jenna and Balto watched Drago jump Rosy, and rip her neck apart.

"Rosy…" Jenna said softly, then she fainted yet again.

"NO! You bastard!" Balto yelled, but was at a loss for words as he jumped on the wolf. Drago easily pushed Balto away, and snapped back. Drago was a much better fighter, but was at the mercy of Balto. Seemingly given super powers from rage, Balto grabbed Drago's neck and threw him 4 feet away. Balto ran back to him before he could get up and bit down hard on his leg and threw him again, Drago yelled in pain to Nehalem, but he wasn't going to help. He just shook his head and walked off towards the forest. Drago caught Balto's ear and pulled him down, then he stomped Balto's head repeatedly into the snow and hard ground below them. He smiled as Balto's eyes closed, he thought he was about to kill him, but it didn't bother Balto in the slightest. With a growl, Balto jumped up and snapped at his leg again, missed, But tried again, this time Balto ripped into Drago's side and tore his chest open, blood shot out, but Drago still wouldn't go down. Balto took another charge at him and knocked him hard against the wall, then ripped into his head, tearing his ear completely off. Balto had no idea what he was trying to do, but to another observer, it would appear that Balto was trying to literally rip his brains out. Balto took advantage of Drago's screams and tore into his neck, severing arteries, of which shot out blood. Drago closed his eyes and knew he'd never open them again. Balto wasn't going to let it happen, he continued ripping into Drago's body long after he died, tearing his organs out in blind rage, stepping on the body and pulling with his teeth to dislodge rib bones, then he ripped flesh off of his back and ate it. Finally Balto stopped, and threw up the remains, that was where he drew the line, cannibalism. He stood over the pile of flesh that used to be called Drago, and was breathing heavily, he was still growling, and was still furious. Even though he literally tore apart Rosy's killer, it wasn't enough. He'd kill this wolf multiple times if given the chance.

He turned to Jenna, who was lying in the snow in front of her house. She hit her head hard and would need at least the night to sleep it off. Balto then turned to Rosy's body… Before he could walk over to it, voices came from around him. There were people standing outside their doors, and they watched the whole thing. A few men ran up to the scene, one of them ran up to examine Rosy, it was Dr. Welch, he knelt over Rosy's lifeless form and shook his head. Dr. Welch closed her eyes manually and covered her body with a blanket, and instructed his intern to bring a body bag from the hospital.

Everything started to move in slow motion again as Balto turned his head to the left and saw 2 men running up to him. They looked angry; surely they didn't think that Balto killed Rosy? He turned his head to the right and saw a man that was standing over Rosy point at him. Balto stood up to run, but his legs didn't carry him, his vision faded and he fell to the ground. His body couldn't handle it anymore, he'd ran it crazy for the past 4 hours, and suffered from head trauma. Apparently, Drago did cause damage to him earlier when he stomped his head in. His vision faded while looking towards Jenna's direction, and saw the other dogs starting with Siku finally catch up. Then he looked to his left and saw men approaching him from that side too. With the last of his vision fading, he looked over to the vet's office and saw two dogs running out. Kaltag and… Steele?

He closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep. He had failed at saving Rosy, and blamed himself for it, he didn't want to wake up.

* * *

Steele.

**(The following is an excerpt that I removed, I didn't want to include it. Steele recovers and now has supernatural powers… Yeah, that happens.)**

"Doctor, he won't wake in his current state… Give him more time!" Said the intern.

"If he wakes up, good, if he doesn't, well we won't be lying if we said that we really did try everything. This dog is lucky to have lived this long with his injuries. To keep him alive any longer just wouldn't be right." Dr. Osnik replied grimly.

"I guess you're right."

Dr. Osnik sighed, He had charged Steele's owner with only a quarter of the actual cost it took to save this dog, but he never gave up on Steele. He had fixed his broken bones, 12 in all… He repaired his punctured lung, and pieced together his fractured skull. And his body was nearly completely covered in bandages. Steele has been put in an induced coma 2 and a half days ago, throughout the duration, Dr. Osnik and his intern rarely slept, Steele was the only patient in the hospital for the majority of this time, and it meant that Dr. Osnik had no trouble making Steele his top priority.

Steele was being kept alive by the drugs in his system, Propofol and Fentanyl kept his brain silent if it woke up, it'd send out the "kill" message to his organs, and they would shortly shut down. Dr. Osnik would soon awaken Steele's brain. He carefully removed Steele's IV, and the breathing tube. Steele was on his own now, No Oxygen was artificially pumped to his lungs, he was no longer fed nutrients through a tube in his arm, his heart was no longer artificially controlled, and his brain was no longer sedated. Dr. Osnik took a step back, the machines were turned off and the room quickly got silent. Steele was, by clinical definition, dead, for a full minute now. Dr. Osnik sighed and shook his head, he hoped so much that Steele would recover, but he couldn't deny the fact that Steele was lucky to have even come this far. He walked over to a counter and began to fill a syringe with a serum… The Serum of death. His Intern just looked down and walked out of the room, he was just as broken as the doctor was. Dr. Osnik walked up to Steele and pet his fur for a bit.

"I'm sorry boy, I really did do everything in my power." Dr. Osnik said, full of sorrow, the needle of the syringe was just inches away before Dr. Osnik froze. Steele was not going to die tonight; Dr. Osnik stepped back and called his intern in, happily. Steele began filling his own lungs with Oxygen, he began pumping blood through his veins himself, he twitched his nose, ears, even moved his tail, and eventually, his eyes shot open.

"Yeah! There we go!" Dr. Osnik happily cheered, he shook hands with his intern, who wasn't saying words, more, was jumping around the room cheering with happiness.

Steele was still heavily sedated, but he turned his head to look around, he was no longer laying in blood soaked snow, and the bear was nowhere to be found. He was lying on a table in the vets' office. Instantly he knew who had brought him here…

Steele turned his head to look at his saviors, Dr. Osnik and his intern, who quickly ran outside into the waiting room to tell the others of Steele's awakening.

He smiled a bit as Nikki, Kaltag, followed by their owners and a few other humans walked in. Then he saw his own two humans walk in with tears of joy as they thanked the Doctor for his hard work. This was new to Steele, everyone seemed to actually care that he was alive, but he knew that he didn't deserve this, that he should have been left for dead by the way he's been acting all these years. He vowed to a certain spirit that he would right his wrong ways, and it would start now. Almost with super-dog strength, given the amount of muscle suppressors flowing through his body, he turned on his belly and slowly began to try and move into the sitting position. Everyone in the room silenced as they watched this dog struggle to sit up. It was an amazing sight, especially the doctors, who knew that at least 10% of Steele's body fluids were drugs meant to keep him from doing exactly this, Move.

Steele was still in pain regardless of the massive amounts of suppressants in his system, but he forced himself to sit up. It felt like he weighed a ton, but eventually he rested on his one good front leg, and looked to the small crowd that gathered in the O.R.

"Hey, guys…" Steele said, it was very quiet, but Kaltag and Nikki picked it up and walked over to him. To the Humans this was a shallow whimper.

"That's a good sign, yes?" Dr. Osnik asked rhetorically to the others.

"I can't believe you're actually alive, Steele, you look like a mummy." Kaltag said.

"Yeah, youse really gave us a scare dere." Nikki added.

"It's nothing, *ack, just a slight cringe in my neck that's bothering me." Steele replied, seemingly noticed that his voice was quiet, so he used more energy to talk louder.

"Where's… Balto?" Steele asked. He didn't get a reply for a few seconds.

"Steele… do you really think Balto would be here? You've treated him like shit your entire life, and he _still_ saved it, when nobody would have questioned him if he left you out there to die." Kaltag replied showing a hint of anger. Kaltag has grown to be a very loyal friend of Balto, but he still wanted Steele to be part of the group.

"I know, I know, I wanted to tell him I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you guys… I'm sorry." He said in the most sincere voice. He wanted desperately to change his ways and hoped that everyone would accept it. Kaltag wouldn't at this point, not yet.

"Wow, you're really drugged up aren't you? You've never once apologized for anything in your life… Why start now?" Kaltag replied coldly. But he saw the sincerity in Steele's eyes, and chose to at least listen to what he has to say.

"You two have always been my closest friends, yet I treated you so badly… And Balto… He has such a kind heart, I regret ever disrespecting him. He should have left me to die in that forest, but yet he dragged me all the way home. The kind dog even took the time to lick my wounds clean so that I didn't have infections to add on top of all of this." Steele said, a single tear rolled down his cheek.

"Alright, fine, I'll believe you, Balto and the others left for a mail run, he was replacing my daughter, she's… disappeared since yesterday." Kaltag said slowly, he didn't want to tell Steele that, but he did it anyway. "A blizzard rolled up in-between here and White Mountain, so I'm guessing they're waiting it out."

"Kaltag, I hope your daughter is safe. I hope Balto and the others are too, I need a chance to make up for my pathetic past life, and start anew, I need your help." Steele said genuinely.

"Hah, you care for once, man I can't wait until you snap out of it when the drugs ware off." Kaltag said, he was joking, deep down he wanted to believe Steele has changed, but why?

"Why exactly did you decide to change your ways?" Kaltag questioned.

"It's a long story, Aniu, she's such a kind spirit, she gave me a second chance. The only catch was that I had to help Balto, but I knew Balto would never trust me. She said I'd find a way, and that she would try and talk to Balto, but then joked that Balto's head was too thick to get much through to him." Steele explained. Then he got up on all fours. He looked up and down his body and examined his legs. Somehow, someway, they were keeping him up! He looked down to the ground, a full 4 feet drop, and whimpered slightly. He wasn't going to risk this.

"Whoa there boy, you've already broken records with the amount you recovered, but let's not get crazy here." Dr. Osnik said, typical patients that come out of an induced coma can't walk or do much of anything for at least a full day, yet here Steele was, sitting up, talking, even attempting to walk and jump off of a high table. He carefully picked up Steele and placed him on the ground. The heavy dog felt stable, and his bones kept together nicely. Dr. Osnik was again completely baffled at how fast this dog was recovering. Then he walked out to talk to the others outside. Nikki's owners picked him up and took him away, he was refusing to leave, but his owners carried him off anyway. Only Kaltag and Steele remained.

"Look, Aniu saved my life, and her kind-hearted son helped. I'm not going to spoil it by continuing the pathetic existence I used to. I don't know if I can change, but I will try my hardest to do so." Steele explained, his words were full of confidence.

"Well in that case, I will help. If you're going to be my friend, you're going to have to be Balto's." Kaltag added.

"I will be, regardless if Balto accepts me." Steele replied.

The two talked for a while, Kaltag talked about his children for 10 minutes, it was mostly a test for Steele, and the entire time Steele seemed genuinely interested. And Steele really was interested, his best friend had 4 beautiful children, and he never once asked about them.

"Dusty seems like a good fighter." Steele added as Kaltag was recounting the events of Dusty and her brothers play fighting.

"She's something alright." Kaltag replied.

"Why is she missing anyway?" Steele asked.

*Sigh* "Her heart was broken. I don't blame Kodi though; I know how stubborn my daughter can be when it came to listening to explanations of any kind, she gets it from her mother. It was all a misunderstanding, but now she's ran off somewhere and nobody can track her down." Kaltag explained, They continued talking about other things for a while, then it got down to Balto and the new Wolf in town.

"Siku…" Steele added before Kaltag even said her name.

"You know her?" Kaltag asked.

"I know of her. Aniu told me about this wolf that came to town to warn… Kaltag, when is the last time you saw Rosy or Jenna?" Steele asked worried.

"I don't know, I saw her daughter yesterday, Saba, she was looking for the others. Why?"

"Kaltag… I think Aniu was trying to warn me of something. Rosy might be in trouble soon…" Steele got up again, the pain was gone… His bones were almost completely healed. It was remarkable. Aniu had given him a helping hand in recovering. She repaired his bones and healed scars over in mere hours, which would have taken weeks.

"Kaltag… we have to go now, there isn't much time. It was only fate that I happened to wake up in time… Rosy needs my help." Steele replied, and then ran out the door. Everyone in the waiting room gasped at the sight, the dog was dead just 15 minutes ago, yet here he was, running full speed and colliding with the door to knock it open... He failed, but tried again. He sat and shook his head as a few of his looser blood soaked bandages fell off. He may have hit it a bit hard, but it didn't matter to him. A human finally got up and opened the door for him, trying to hide the laughter at the sight of the dog running full speed into a closed door. Steele didn't take the time to thank him, but bolted out in the direction of Jenna's house.

"Steele, what the… Wait up! How the hell are you running this fast already? This is bullshit." Kaltag was a bit annoyed, but he couldn't hide his amazement. Steele really was incredible. Steele rounded the corner and bolted down the alleyway, desperate to find Rosy and save her. He froze at the sight in front of him… Balto was tearing apart another wolf, he looked furious. Steele looked to his left and saw Jenna lying in the snow, what had happened to her? He hoped she was alright. Then he turned to the right and the scene made his heart drop, he was too late, before him he caught the body of Rosy, before she was covered in a blanket.

"No… I have failed, Aniu." Steele said, then dropped down and covered his face.

"You have not failed me, Steele; Balto still needs your help, go to him." A voice replied to him. It seemed unreal, he only ever communicated with the spirits in his dreams, this time it seemed like Aniu was behind him giving him advice.

"Right." Steele straightened up and walked over to Balto, he watched as the wolf-dog turned and fell. He sped up and ran to Balto's aid and saw the light slip from Balto's eyes.

"Balto, you're going to be okay, you don't even look injured man! You have to get up." Steele said desperately, if Balto died, he wouldn't be able to live with himself. He looked around at the humans, who were closing in on the two, they seemed mad. "They think Balto killed her… No… It isn't true… I won't let them touch Balto!" He thought.

He growled and stood over Balto's unconscious form and snapped at a human who tried to reach down.

"Whoa there boy, we just want to help Balto. The amazing dog tried to save Rosy, and he even killed her killer for us." The man replied, he faced the other men, who all nodded in agreement. Steele softened up as he realized nobody was going to hurt Balto, and then he let the man pick up Balto. He walked over to Rosy's house and placed him at Jenna's side.

"Steele, you stay here and watch the two, good boy." The man replied. Him and the town sheriff busted down the door and proceeded inside, followed by two other men. Another man rolled out police tape across the road, preventing people from entering near the house.

Steele watched as a few humans cried out when the event unfolded in front of them. The doctor was first to leave the house, he had a terrible sad face as he took his gloves off and shook his head. His intern returned to his side and seemed to ask, "Is there anything we can do for them?" To which the doctor just shook his head.

They pulled 2 stretchers out of the doorway, and on top of it were bodies covered in full black plastic bags. Steele knew what this meant. He looked around at the other dogs that came to surround them, and noted out Siku as she cried in Kodi's shoulder. Steele lowered his head and closed his eyes then lay down next to Balto, and once again blamed himself for all of this.

* * *

Kodi and Siku.

"Dad wait!" Kodi yelled out to his father, but he could not hear him. They were closing the gap between the two and Nome. He watched his father trip and fall and laughed softly at the sight of the wolfdog doing at least 3 complete flips before stopping. Siku was running full speed next to him. He looked down at her and caught himself staring again, she moved so elegantly and peacefully as she sped by, like a machine built for running, her powerful muscles moved her tiny legs much faster than Kodi, or any other dog for that matter, had to. He began to think how life could be if the two of them were to spend the rest of it together, all that came up was pure happiness. Kodi was in love with a wolf, but he didn't care, Siku was beautiful, and her personality matched it as well as her voice did.

"Kodi, you can stare at me later, right now focus on running." Siku yelled back. She seemed to even talk in a calm voice ignoring the fact that the two were running very fast. Kodi turned his head down and scolded himself for staring again, and then he looked ahead and saw Balto turn the building. He couldn't make out anything else, but he saw a few other humans run around the building to see what happened. They were closing the gap and would be there in less than a minute. It was too late, they rounded the corner and took in the scene in front of them… They got there just in time to see Balto faint and they joined the humans who were flooding to the scene. He stopped at the sight of his mother and tried to wake her, but it didn't work. Then he ran over and saw Rosy's body being carried off by the doctor… He couldn't believe it, Siku and Balto's dream was correct, and if it was, he would be the next one to die. He ignored the thoughts, he wasn't worried. If he died, it wouldn't matter, what would matter is how broken down Siku, Balto and the others would be, he'd fight for his life even harder because of that.

"Dad!" He yelled out as he saw Steele protecting him and a few humans gathered around them. He stopped as he saw them pick Balto up and walk him over to Jenna, so he followed. A man was unrolling police tape, but lifted it just for Kodi and Siku, then sighed as he had to lift it several times again for the rest of the dogs whom finally caught up to the scene. He stopped, sat down and stared at his sleeping mother and Father, and Steele, who was beating himself up on the inside. Kodi never resented Steele, but due to the respect of his father, he had to hate Steele, but now was not the time to express it. Siku one again buried her face into his chest and started crying. Kodi just moved his head down and licked her ears to comfort her. Siku knew all too well that her dreams might be coming true, and she knew that soon the rest of the pack would be invading the town of Nome.

* * *

**I cut it here, again, the chapter was huge, and I didn't want to post a 30,000 word long chapter just yet. I have Chapter 6 completed but I'm going to upload it tomorrow, for, uh, Revising, yeah that. (mwaha ha ha... ha...wut)**


	6. The Aftermath, The plan, The love

The next morning.

Balto woke to a terrible headache, his stomach was also erupting, and it would soon cause him to throw up. He quickly stood and tried to walk, but his paws didn't obey, and his head began pounding as he fell back down to the floor. When he fell, he managed to knock over a metal pan and made a loud noise, of which echoed in his mind causing it to hurt more. The sound also woke up the others with ease. He looked around, still lying flat on the floor, he saw Kodi, Siku, Saba and… Steele? What in god's name was Steele doing here… Then he looked at where he was sleeping at… This was Steele's house.

"Balto, you're okay!" Siku said, she was still half-asleep, but shook it off and walked over to Balto's side. She nuzzled his neck for a bit before trying to help him stand. Balto got to his feet and stood there, staring at the ground for a second, he was trying to concentrate on making his head stop pounding. It felt like it was going to burst with the pressure. She was happy, but it wore away quickly.

"That… actually happened?" Balto asked desperately.

"Not… Just a dream?" he added. His voice was low, and he was on the verge of collapsing.

"I…It wasn't a dream Balto…" Siku answered, Balto watched a single tear drip down her cheek. Ignoring everything, he reached in and licked it off of her face.

He heard her speak, but didn't want to hear it. He shook his head and tried to find anything to change the subject. After a whole minute passed, he finally spoke.

"You're so damn cute, Siku." Balto said, he was trying desperately to get his mind off of what just happened. Siku just blushed and moved towards Kodi slowly.

"I'm sorry if it's random, just, I've never told you, and… I don't want to think about…" Balto cut himself off.

"Where's Jenna? I don't feel right complimenting another female, especially if Jenna isn't around." Balto asked, he was still trying to say anything to get his mind away from the event.

"Jenna's at the vet's office, she got a concussion, but the vet says she'll be fine in no time." Steele said. Balto had to shake his head when he heard Steele talk. He was full of genuine caring, and didn't sound like he had any hate in his voice at all.

"Steele, not that this is the time for it or anything, but what in the hell are you doing here?" Balto asked, he fought back the urge to growl.

"Well, this is my house after all heh heh, but seriously, Balto, I can't even begin to explain to you everything, and how sorry I am for the way I treated you all these years. You should have left me to die out there in the woods… So why didn't you?" Steele asked as he walked over to Balto, ignoring his obvious attempts at holding himself from growling.

"Are you sure she's safe?" Balto asked, he felt lightheaded again, and almost fell over, but Steele stopped him. Siku walked away now and lay down with Kodi and Saba, who were still sleeping.

"I know she is, but are you safe?" Steele said.

"Do you actually give a damn, Steele? Or are you just wondering when I'm going to die so you can take another try at Jenna." Balto said, he finally snapped and couldn't hold his anger back anymore, remembering that Steele once tried to rape her. He charged at Steele, but something stopped him, he fell to the ground.

"Balto, are you alright?" Steele asked, he seemed to completely ignore Balto's attempt at attacking him, and instead walked over to him to see if he was okay.

"You need to leave Steele, I don't want you around me or my kids, especially Jenna!" Balto yelled, but his head was pounding yet again, and caused him to lose energy in his words.

"Balto I'm not leaving, I need to talk to you. It's important, Aniu told me to-"Steele was cut off by Balto.

"You don't get to say her name..." Balto barked back, he returned to a sitting position. Siku got up and walked over to protect Balto, just in case.

"Balto, please lie back down, you're hurt." Steele said. He was really keeping his calm, he understood Balto's hatred for him, rather than make Steele mad, all it did was make Steele hate himself even more. Still, Balto sensed the caring of his voice. Maybe Steele really did care about Balto's health.

"Alright Steele, I don't know what kind of tricks you're playing, but I'll trust you for now, I don't really have another choice." Balto finally offered. He looked to Siku, and her eyes told him that she trusted Steele too.

"Glad to hear it Balto." Steele walked to him and lie down next to him, this entire thing made Balto cringe up, and he involuntarily moved away slowly.

Steele spent the next 5 minutes explaining everything to Balto, how he was a changed dog, how his conversation with his mother went, and how he looked down and watched as Balto saved him, then thanked Balto one more time.

"Steele, if I had known of what you did a few years ago, I would have killed you myself." Balto said coldly, he did trust Steele, and understood what he was trying to explain, but he couldn't hide his hate for the perverted dog that tried to rape his Mate.

"I think I know what you're talking about. I cannot apologize for that, but I vow to try every chance I get. I look back on my past life and it makes me sick, I would never have tried to force my way onto Jenna, but she didn't make it too hard. She was in heat after all." Steele admitted.

"You son of a bitch! You're trying to turn it around on Jenna someway? I can't believe you, you haven't changed at all!" Balto yelled back, though he was still laying down, he tried to snap at Steele, who just moved away in response.

"Balto, she was in heat. I know that's why she even agreed to go on a date with me in the first place. I was terrible to try and take advantage of that, but I never intended to try and… You know…" Steele said. Balto stopped growling and realized that Steele was right.

"There's one more thing you should know, I really did love Jenna, if I ever got the chance to tell her, I would have treated her like a queen, not like the other girls whom I didn't care about and simply used them. I can't deny the fact that I love her, then and still today. But I can promise you on my own life that I will never try anything. I will willingly accept your teeth to my neck if I broke that promise." Steele genuinely offered.

"I know you won't Steele, if anything you don't have the guts to do it." Balto playfully answered. Steele just laughed quietly in response. Balto was starting to respect this dog; it took a lot of strength to apologize for an entire lifetime of asshole-ery, and even more surprising, it was working. Balto soon accepted Steele and began to allow him to build up trust with him.

"Balto, I know you as much as me want to check on Jenna, do you think you can walk?" Steele asked.

"It doesn't matter; I'll crawl there if I have to." Balto replied.

"Heh, Ol' lobo, such endurance and strength, you won't have to worry about crawling there." Steele said, he laughed at his own usage of "lobo" the very name he used to torment Balto for years.

"Yeah, call me old Lobo Balto." He replied, Steele mentally relaxed as Balto accepted it as a joke, and didn't get offended by it.

"I'll help you walk, Balto!" Siku said out of nowhere, she was acting like she was asleep, but listened to their entire conversation.

"We'll both help to keep you upright Balto." Steele offered.

"Thanks guys."

"I'll wake up Kodi and get him to help." Siku said.

"No, let them rest, they pushed themselves hard to run here all the way from White Mountain… Oh crap, we forgot about Mr. Simpson!" Balto said as he couldn't hide a smile at the mental image of Mr. Simpson scratching his head, while looking at the dog-less garage.

"He'll be fine, you're in no shape, well, none of us are in any shape to run back there." Siku added, but she knew as well as Balto that she wasn't the least bit fatigued.

Balto nodded in agreement as the 3 walked out, Balto being supported by Steele and Siku, they walked towards the vet office to see Jenna. It was a bit cold as Balto looked to his left, down on the other end of the road was where the event of last night unfolded, there was still yellow police tape blocking entry to Jenna's house. He let out a sigh, finally accepting that the event really did happen and that Rosy was gone. He thought about how Jenna would take this, she wouldn't take it well… They turned the corner and began walking towards the vets' office to see if Jenna was awake.

* * *

Jenna. First person.

My mind was racing, having just fell off of the building and hit my pretty little head a bit too hard, but I was still able to stand. I tried to run off after Rosy but couldn't move my feet, they felt glued to the ground, then I fell face first into the snow, my eyes slipped closed and a name seemed to let itself out.

"Rosy…"

I looked around; there was nothing but darkness, darkness everywhere. It was darker than any night I have ever been in, but I could still make out my surroundings. This was in the forest. Panicking, I quickly ran in the direction of Home, but… where was home? I lifted my nose up to sample the air, nothing. No scents of any kind, I tried to yell out for help, but nothing. No sounds made it out of my mouth; In fact, there was no sound at all. I simply wandered around for hours, looking for any sign of… anything. Eventually I could recognize something… It was a ghostly figure out in the distance. The canopy above may have shielded me from snow, but also blocked out any kind of light from above, the horizon was lit though, an ominous light blue glow along the horizon was blocked out by Fog, this fog brought visibility down to a few dozen feet. The figure continued to get closer, and even though there was finally something real in this unreal setting, I hid out of sight of it.

Balto.

Balto was dragging a body in his teeth, the body of Siku… But he didn't look happy that she was dead, he was crying his eyes out. I wanted to comfort him, and get an explanation out of him, but I didn't want to believe if he did kill Siku. So I ran down to meet him, he seemed happy to see me... Very happy. He ran up and began licking my face all over and held me tight, I returned the favor; after all I was just as happy to see him. He said something, but I couldn't make it out, it wasn't his voice… Something was talking for him… Then his face instantly snapped into an aggressive stance. I turned to run but was being held back by something, only when I turned did I see the face of Kodi. I was happy to see my son, so I didn't care how the hell he got out here, I turned around to nuzzle him, but he vanished.

"Kodi is no longer with us, Jenna." A voice said, I looked to Balto, but he just stared back. The voice came from Siku. I walked over to her, and she continued whimpering. She saw me then closed her eyes.

"I thought you were dead" I tried to say, but no sounds escaped my mouth. I tried to ignore what she said; I wouldn't believe Kodi was dead, so I didn't.

"I brought her out here to help you. You have a choice to make." Balto said, but it wasn't his voice, it was a voice of evil, and with it, a wicked smile formed on Balto's face.

"Balto, what are you talking about?" I said, even though I could not hear myself, I knew they could. Siku got up and walked over and sat down next to me. Balto was sitting on my left and Siku on my right. They were staring blankly in front of them, their eyes were not looking though, and they had no pupils. I tried to hide my terrified look at what I saw, they were scary like this.

"What… What are we looking at?" I finally asked.

Balto replied without talking, he just looked into my eyes and told me that way.

"We're waiting for our gift." He said. This was defiantly not Balto talking; it was someone... or something else using his voice to speak. I whimpered in fear softly as I returned to stare ahead too. We stood around for at least five minutes until I saw something fly down from above. A green spirit broke through the canopy above and came to a rest in front of us. Balto got up and slowly walked over next to it, then sat down staring back at me and Siku. The spirit began to take shape, it was Rosy. I barked happily at the sight of Rosy and tried to run to her, but I was being held back by Siku.

"Let me go damnit!" I yelled back, I tried to snap at Siku but I couldn't reach her.

"You must choose between your mate and your human." Siku said in a calm voice. She almost seemed angelic at the sound of it, but it was a demon that did the talking.

"What? I can't choose between them… Siku, please explain, what is this? Why are you doing this?" I was desperate, but she didn't respond. She sat there starring, starring at what? I don't know. It was as-if she was staring at something in-between us. A tear formed and worked its way down my cheek, flowing through my whiskers. But I made my choice, it was a hard choice, but I'd chose it always. I'd follow Balto anywhere, so I walked over slowly to Balto and began crying in his chest, he didn't respond, he didn't change his stance. Just then, I turned to Rosy, who let out a shallow scream, and then I watched as she fell to her knees, then fell flat on her face. A puddle of blood began forming where her head was and I saw it pour out of her ears. Before I could even react, something exploded, all of us were thrown across the forest and the trees broke apart, the entire world crumbled beneath my feet and I was thrown off into the air, but then I felt a lick on my muzzle, I closed my eyes preparing for a bad fall, but then opened them. I was on the floor with Balto looking over me, I looked around and saw that I was knocked out of a box that Rosy dragged me in, and I was at the front porch of my home, lying in the snow. Then I looked back at Balto, he had pure despair on his face as he ignored me and shouted. I could not hear but I yelled out to him.

"Balto! Rosy!" I screamed, remembering that she was being attacked. At the same time I said that, Balto bolted off yelling "No… NO!" I feared for the worst, and turned my head just in time to see Rosy's face one last time before she was killed by the wolf, I watched as Balto tore the wolf apart, but I couldn't do more than watch. I tried to get up but the shock made me fall back down, I started to cry but it didn't last long, I passed back out, unknowing that I suffered damage from the fall. My last thoughts rested on Rosy, how I failed to protect my human, I put all blame in myself, and I never wanted to wake up again.

* * *

Balto, Steele and Siku.

Steele and Siku held Balto up as they turned the corner towards the Vets office. Balto almost forgotten how the town looked during the day because, for the past few months, there was nothing but long nights and short bursts of sunlight, and the last time he was here during the day, it was when he left for the mail run… A mistake he still blamed himself for making. He looked down the street and swathe normal humans and dogs that roamed the streets. He wondered if they feared for their lives as Nehalem would have wanted, he knew they had to… Nehalem's pack would soon be upon the town.

A man walked over to pet Balto, and noticed how he could not walk. Balto recognized the man as Rosy's uncle. He had obvious signs of crying, Balto guessed he was as torn apart at losing his brother, his sister in-law and his niece, as he was. Though he could not relate to the man, as Rosy was not family, but he wondered how Jenna would take it.

"Poor Balto, I saw your battle with that… damn wolf last night, it was amazing to watch you tear apart that little bastard that did such a thing… Allow me to help, it's the least I could do." The man said, and then he picked up Balto and walked with him down the road to the vet's office. Siku and Steele followed as they stopped at the door. It was locked; apparently the vet was not there. Balto whimpered a bit, he was worried that the vet left and was not watching over Jenna. The man placed Balto down, and still being unable to walk, Balto simply fell in the snow. The man knocked loudly on the door, and Balto was thankful that he didn't have to do something that made that much noise, he probably wouldn't be able to anyway.

"Huh, maybe the vet is taking a nap." The man replied. Balto got up and tried to walk to the door, but fell again. The man moved Balto to the door and watched as he began to rip it apart.

"You really want to get in there, don't you? There must be someone special inside waiting for you." The man said. He prepared his arm and tackled the door, breaking it off of its hinges. This man did not care that he had just broken into the vet's office, all that mattered was that he helped Balto any way he could..

"There you go, Balto, now, if you'll understand, I must be off now." The man said with a smile, and then ran off, hoping that nobody saw what he just did.

"I like that guy." Siku said.

"A bit unorthodox, but it works." Balto replied, his voice was starting to gain back energy and was on normal levels.

The three walked inside with Steele keeping Balto from falling over, and Siku running from room to room searching.

"She's not here! Nobody is here!" Siku said. They made it to the back room and looked around, nothing. Then both Balto and Siku picked something up, they both lifted their noses up and sniffed the air… Wolves.

"What? What are you guys picking up with those impressive Wolf noses of yours?" Steele asked, Balto noted his compliment and figured it was probably the first one he's ever received from the dog.

"Wolves were here… One of them the same as the one from last night…" Balto answered.

"What? That damn wolf from last night was here? Why…"

Balto froze as his brain pieced together the scene… The dog that they came to see was not here… And the scent of evil wolves from last night is all too clear. Balto's legs gave away and he simply fell to the ground, not caring to move.

"Balto what's the matter? We need to get out of here…" Steele said.

Balto didn't respond… His already injured mate was just taken by homicidal (Canicidal? lupicidal?) wolves… He didn't want to move, all that changed was a steady stream of tears rolling down his face.

Balto couldn't… No... Wouldn't take it anymore, he would not cry, he would fight. He got up and stood. The pain in his back legs was fading, replaced by pure adrenaline. Balto ran through the halls and out the broken front door of the Vet's office. He ran all the way past Jenna's house and made it a full 100 meters. But he heard another terrible sound in his back, and fell. Once again, he was pissed off, so pissed off by the fact that his own body couldn't carry him. He wanted to kick his own ass for being such a failure. The pain was exploding throughout his body. Balto managed to pull his Back muscle now… Even with Steele and Siku's aid, he would not be able to hold his body up since his back would no longer support him. He lay in the snow and flipped about for a few seconds, the pain popping like fireworks in different parts of his body. What the hell was going on? Did he pull _every_ muscle in his body all at once? The pain was too much, it was hundreds times worse than the worst pain he ever felt. He closed his eyes and let the pain die away, he blacked out yet again.

Steele and Siku caught up to him, they looked back and admired how far the broken wolf-dog ran in this state.

"What is wrong with him… Why doesn't he realize that he's injured…" Steele said, he knelt down and nudged Balto with his nose.

"What happened?" Siku said as she walked over and looked over Balto's body.

"He's pulled his back muscles now… He's pushing himself farther than any dog or wolf could have, all for what though?" Steele said, he was wondering what could force a dog in Balto's shape to try and run full speed, not caring of the damage he was doing.

"Poor Balto…" As Siku said that she put a paw on Balto's back and watched as it made Balto jump.

Balto's eyes shot open now, but he wasn't moving anything, he didn't say anything. He turned his head and snapped at Siku, who was within range. Siku yipped and jumped back, startled by Balto's attempt to snap at her feet.

"Why Balto?" Siku asked, but he didn't answer, he began growling now, and exposed his teeth. He struggled to get up, struggled to move, and eventually got into a sitting position. His back was arched very uncomfortably, not having muscles to hold it up. Siku and Steele stared at him, astonished at the fact that he was trying, yet again, to stand up. He fell of course, but when he hit the ground, something snapped and he began breathing heavily. Most of the pain left, except for his back legs and back. He looked up at Siku, who was still a bit surprised that he snapped at her.

"Siku… Sorry… Wasn't… me…" Balto said in-between labored breathing.

"What do you mean? You snapped at me you meanie!" Siku said. She smiled a bit at her choice of using such a childish word.

"I know now… The demons tried to take over my body… I fought it off, it was an intense battle, and it took place in my mind. They won at first, but after realizing that my body was useless, they left." Balto explained, his breathing returned to a normal speed.

"Wow, that was crazy, but why did you run off from the vet's in such speed anyway? All you managed to do was injure yourself more." Steele said in a caring voice.

"Steele… Siku… The wolves took Jenna." Balto said, and with his words he returned his paw over his face and began sniffling. But he wasn't crying, he would not cry anymore, he would fight.

"Oh god… They better not touch her… I couldn't live with myself if she …" Steele said, but he wasn't focused, he was staring at the ground and shaking his head, he paced around, he was furious.

"Stop being such a weirdo, Steele, it's not… Steele like of you. We need to gather everyone in the boiler room... Find Doc." Balto said.

"Siku, help Balto, you guys to do that… I'm going to get Jenna back!" Steele said, then ran off.

"Steele! Steele! Get back here damnit! You can't do it alone!" Balto yelled, but Steele didn't stop.

* * *

Steele.

**The following is a two part series, his part in this didn't seem to fit anywhere else, so I plopped it RIGHT in the middle of this. The second part is of Nehalem.**

Steele had no idea where he was going, Jenna's scent had long worn off, and it was quickly turning night. He looked to the north and saw a huge electric storm cloud in the distance, he figured it was over White Mountain. Steele lifted his nose high in the air and tried to pick up her scent again, finally, he did pick something up, it was Jenna, but the smell was tainted with the smell of many, many other wolves. "Oh great, and just what in the hell am I going to do? Walk in and kill them all to save Jenna alone?" Steele thought. He thought back to his time with Aniu, she explained what help she could give him. He had already made a full recovery in less than a few hours. Remarkable. He had super speed running, but he hasn't tried yet. Steele got low on his front paws and raised his tail high in the air, then bolted off. He picked a direction that was free of trees, and ran as fast as he possibly could. That was it, he was running full speed already, he didn't know what else he needed to do. Then he closed his des for a second, but they shot open at the sound that was in his ears. It was the sound of the wind blowing with gale force past his ears, he looked down and noticed his paws were a blur. Then he looked to his side and watched the trees fly by. Steele was running in excess of 80 miles per hour! More than 3 times faster than he's ever ran! He slowed to a stop now, noticing that the trees got a little denser beyond this point. He expected to be exhausted, but realized that he was not the least bit fatigued.

"Wow... I wonder what else I can do?" Steele thought. Just on impulse, he got low and jumped up. He felt himself to at least a meter off of the ground, and prepared for the fall, he hit the ground with a loud, but satisfying, thud. This Ike he trained it, and made an actual target to jump on. He aimed for a higher branch of the tree, about 3 meters up, he jumped, and grabbed onto the branch. After struggling for a while, he accepted that he would not be able to get up, and allowed himself to fall, this time landing correctly.

"This is incredible, but I'm wasting time..." Steele thought, he used his jumps for a better purpose. He jumped to the branches and made his way to the top of the canopy. To his surprise it was still calm above the trees. This time he lifted his head up again and sampled the air, trying desperately to pick up a scent of Jenna. He found her again, and also detected 30 other canines of lupine origin.

"This is going to be so easy." Steele said to himself sarcastically. Steele used another trick that Aniu taught him. It was a disgusting trick that would make him almost invisible to smell. He stopped for a second, realizing what he had to do, then bit hard into a nearby tree. The sticky sap began to pour down and Steele rubbed it all over himself. This was a terrible feeling... Every time he moved, it pulled on his fur and caused pain. He fought it and stretched every possible way, in order to loosen its hold. Eventually it got to the point where his fur was tangled and knotted all around his body, it being more noticeable on his white chest. The sap worked well to hide any and all smells that would come off of Steele. It would be tough to clean off later, but for now it would save him a lot of trouble. Steele ran in the direction of White Mountain, he followed the scent for 15 miles up the trail and into dense forest. Eventually he reached the source, using his newfound jumping ability, he easily jumped onto a nearby ledge that was at least 10 feet off of the ground. Steele could see everything from here, and when he lay flat, that combined with the smell cloaking sap, he was nearly undetectable. Steele would observe the pack, find out where they were keeping Jenna, then sneak her off later. He laid down on the cool rocks to watch and listen to Nehalem's plans.

* * *

Nehalem.

Nehalem stood upon his veritable throne as he looked over his followers; they all stared at him, leaning on his every word. Nehalem loved his power over the pack, even of it was forced. He did this every day, preaching to his followers his own interpretation of Amarok's teachings. In reality, Amarok was not evil, he only punished hunters who did not follow a moral code and killed for the sake of killing. If a hunter killed a moose and used it to feed him or his family, by Amarok's definition, that hunter had did nothing wrong. Nehalem on the other hand, hated humans with a passion, both brainwashed with rage, and due in part because they always tried to kill him. Of course the humans would try to kill him; Nehalem never understood that the humans wouldn't try to kill him if he didn't try to do the same. He thought for a second of what to say, then stood higher to address the group.

"We are the result of millions of years of evolution, our ancestors ruled the north, our brothers to the south ruled all of the Americas. The legacy if the great wolves is a sad one, hunted to extinction by the human menace! Then what do the humans do to finish us off? Then take our ancestors as pets, trained the wolves to protect the humans from their brothers. Eventually the tainted wolves became domesticated, they became dogs! Mere slaves to the human menace, taught to do tricks for their amusement in order to be fed. Dogs if today have lost their great sense of smell, they have lost their primal instinct to hunt, they have lost their abilities to be wolves! They cannot be saved, it is in the best interest for our species to eradicate the fallen wolves, the mere husks of their past. We will do our best for the species; we will not allow our long lost brethren to continue being kept prisoner of their own sad genetic makeup. They are lost, and cannot be recovered; our only way to help them is to make sure they have a safe passage to the spirit world. Their souls will be salvaged by our great Amarok and will be given another chance." Nehalem preached to the group, the whole time he was pacing back and forth and looking at each and every face.

"This guy is insane! So what's the plan?" Steele asked himself. He did have a plan, he would use his newfound abilities to lure off part of the pack and kill them one by one. Simple. But Steele did not know what he was dealing with. He did not know that every wolf he would fight off would be controlled, merely driven by Nehalem himself, as he commanded the demons to attack. These demons would work whatever body it was controlling to the death, working their muscles much harder than any conscience being would. Steele had his plan, now all he had to do was wait fortune pack to split up. He looked to the right and saw two wolves walking off into the forest. Steele watched them until they were out of sight from the pack, and then followed for the kill.

But Steele made a mistake that would risk everything, he accidentally kicked a few rocks off of his ledge, and they were rolling down fast to collide with one poor unsuspecting wolf at the bottom. Steele watched with horror as the 6 inch rock rolled down and hit one right behind the ears with a loud thud. The event knocked the wolf over, but he seemed to ignore it and slowly recover to a sitting position. "Huh, guess its alright" Steele thought, unknowing to him, he would soon learn of the demons. The wolf that he hit did not react to the rock, until the demon allowed it, Steele watched as a green spirit left from the Wolfs' ear and on the instant, the wolf started howling in pain and feeling the area the rock hit, then he looked up to Steele and howled, alerting everyone.

"Oh, sh-" Steele said as he was cut off by Nehalem.

"Intruder! Group 7 and 4 go after him, now back to business." Nehalem then continued telling the rest of the plan to the others as if Steele wasn't there. He knew that the two groups of wolves that totaled 7 in all would take Steele out nice and quickly.

The wolves ran full speed to Steele, he knew that he could easily outrun them, but chose to test out his fighting abilities. If Steele was bad at anything, it was fighting. His endurance, strength and persistence stopped at the sled. He closed his eyes for a second, channeling his power into a fighting form, he felt something tick, and opened his eyes; he knew what he had to do.

Before the wolves closed in on him, he ran to meet them. Getting his speed at nearly 60 miles per hour, he charged at the center one, facing his shoulder at the wolf, and turning his head, he ran into the wolf sending him flying into a nearby tree. It was knocked unconscious instantly. Steele stopped now and looked at his opponents. They actually had an expression on their faces, meaning that no demons were helping them. Steele smiled then ran to another one, ripping into his side with his teeth at lightning speed, then threw him aside as the wolf cried in pain. Two other wolves charged at him, but Steele decided it was enough; he jumped 6 feet over them and took off at normal running speed so that the wolves chased him. He planned to run these wolves to the point where they stopped following him, then he'd run back to Nehalem's pack.

He ran out into a valley, it was steeply sloped and ended at a large canyon. The valley was also filled with wet soggy melting snow. Steele thought this was the perfect place to really test out his speed. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and when he opened them he was already running faster than last time, he looked back and found it hard to make out the wolves, but they were frozen and staring at him in confusion. Steele struggled to turn his head to face I front of him, then found it nearly impossible to keep his eyes open. He covered a mile in less than half a minute, Steele didn't know it, but he was running at 140 miles per hour. His paws were taking long strides instead of taking many quick normal sized ones. His back feet reached all the way in front of his fore paws. He smiled at this incredible speed, but soon found a problem, how was he going to stop? He needed to unless he wanted to crash face first into the other side of a large canyon that sat at the bottom of the valley. He stopped his feet and fell on his chest, the wet snow caused him to shoot down the valley at almost the same speed, he had no way of stopping, and the valley was getting steeper. The canyon was at least 150 feet across, so no way he was going to jump it. Steele panicked and purposefully tipped his boy over and turned this deadly slide into a deadly stumble down the valley. His body did 20 flips every 10 seconds, and he was 5 feet in the air at some points. He was successful in slowing down to about 60 mph, but the valley was coming to a close in less than a mile, and with the valley getting steeper and steeper until it ends, it does not look like Steele will be able to stop in time. Steele looked around for a few seconds, desperately looking for anything, a rock, a tree, just so he could run into it and stop himself. Nothing. His head snapped back at a loud echoing sound behind him.

His disturbing of the snow behind him from earlier caused an avalanche that has since then built up into a colossal killer wave of snow… And it is heading towards the bottom of the valley at twice Steele's speed. With no other options, Steele tries one more trick Aniu taught him…

* * *

Siku and Balto, The meeting.

"Steele! Steele! Get back here damnit! You can't do it alone!" Balto yelled, but Steele didn't stop.

"What a nice guy." Siku said. This was the first time she saw him other than when he was being killed by the bear.

"Siku, you don't know the half of it." Balto said. Siku helped him to his feet and they walked off, the whole time, Balto explained to Siku about how Steele used to be.

"Well I trust that he has changed his ways." Siku finally said.

"I trust him too." Balto replied, his voice was still tainted with despair. They walked over to town hall where Doc usually hung around. He was sleeping in front of the main doors like he always did. Siku let Balto lay down and walked up to Doc. She pushed him with her paw but he didn't wake up. She looked back at Balto, who just nodded for her to continue. Then Siku got close and barked loudly in Doc's face, this woke him up.

"What? What?" He jumps up. "Ah, Balto and uh, friend."

"My name is Siku!" She proudly replied. Doc just chuckled deeply.

"Hello, Siku, something I can help you with?" Doc replied. She just nervously walked over to Balto and helped him get up.

"Balto are you okay?" Doc replied, he got up now and walked to meet Balto.

"I'm fine, just pulled both my leg muscles, but that isn't important..." Balto replied.

"Doc, the town is in danger, for both dogs _and_ humans. Siku can explain, but we need to summon the entire town." Balto said. Though he knew doc understood that he meant the entire canine population of the town.

"Very well Balto, I'll put the message out, if it has to do with lest nights event, I'm sure everyone will have no problem showing up." doc explained.

"Doc, Jenna has been taken by them..." Balto said. He shook his head again, trying to stop tears from flowing. He was successful, but his vision was fading, colors were changing, voices ringing, he passed out yet again.

"Poor Balto… Well Siku, I suppose we should help Balto to the boiler room, and hopefully you can explain what Balto can't in his state…" Doc offered.

"I can!" Siku replied

"Heheh, what an energetic fella you are, well get over here and help me lift Balto." Doc replied. Siku helped Doc try and balance Balto on his back, but it wouldn't work. Siku offered another suggestion, she ran around the corner of the building into the side alley, and pulled out with her a flat box. Doc smiled and Siku helped him place Balto on it and drag it towards the boiler room. When they got there, they were greeted by a few gasps from the dogs who were already there seeking warmth.

"What happened to Balto? Ralph finally asked.

"You idiot Ralph, a better question is, what in the hell happened last night?" Kirby playfully cut into Ralph's statement, but he was actually curious.

"Quiet down you two, Siku says she can explain everything, for now let's place Balto infront of the furnace, the poor wolf-dog has been through a lot…" Doc said.

"I know… He's ran his body hard yesterday, we all did, but none of us fought off a wolf too… I think it was obvious who won though." Kirby said with a smile, he saw the remains of Drago at the end of the road, of whom the humans simply put police tape around it for now.

Siku didn't say much, but she walked up to the higher step and sat down. All eyes were on her this time, and she felt nervous again, but almost right on cue more dogs entered. This time it was Saba, Kaltag, Nikki and a few others she didn't know. But only when the last dog walked in did she jump in excitement. Kodi.

"Kodi, you're finally awake!" Siku said excitedly.

"Hey Siku, yeah, last night's race home was pretty tiring." Kodi answered then walked over to Siku. He smiled when Siku nuzzled him, but hesitated for a second before licking Kodi on the chin. She missed him, and he returned her kiss.

"Yeah it was, poor Balto didn't recover from it well." Kirby said as he walked over to the two and nudged over at Balto's sleeping form.

"Dad… I feel so bad for him; he must be beating himself up for last night… He didn't make it in time to…" Kodi cut himself off, but everyone knew what he was going to say.

"It's more than that Kodi…" Siku said with despair.

"Jenna was taken by the wolves from last night…" She finally said, and returned to nuzzle Kodi to comfort him.

"They… took my mom?" Kodi said with his mouth open, he was at a loss for words.

"I'm afraid so, Kodi, now, if we can get on with this, I've called everyone over to hear what you've got to say Siku." Doc interjected.

"Right." Siku said, then returned to her spot. Kodi walked over to sit by her side, full of anger and sadness, he stared at the ground, and when he sat up next to Siku, he blankly stared into the crowd.

"Well, uh, the town is in danger everyone, Balto, Kodi, and anyone else that saw last night's event can confirm it." Siku said.

"There is a pack of wolves hiding in darkness near here, they have one goal. Kill everything that lives in Nome." As Siku said this, the crowd let out a collective gasp. She noted the obvious looks of dogs who did not believe her… Or wanted not to believe her…

"Rosy was killed last night by Drago, he is Nehalem's right hand wolf, and since Balto killed him, he isn't going to be happy." She added.

"How do you know all of this?" A random dog stepped up. The other stared at him with a face of unbelieving. Was this dog really questioning her?

"She knows this because she saw it first hand, you dunce." Kirby barked at him.

"Not first-hand… The dream I explained to some of you earlier has been shared with Balto. It's coming true… First Dusty has gone missing, and now Rosy has been killed. And the wolves in our dreams were real, they were here last night." Siku explained.

"So we're basing this off of a silly little dream?" The dog said. Kirby was starting to show frustration now.

"Hey, I got an idea, how about you shut up before I-" Kirby was cut off while he was acting out strangling the dog with his paws.

"Kirby! Let him speak, he has the right. Yes, dreams, but they're a sign given to us by Aniu herself. She talks to us in the dreams, and she is also Balto's mother." Siku replied, she added the last part quickly.

"Fine, I apologize for challenging you, it's just that… Me and my owners came here to escape dangers, we escaped nearly being killed in another town far from here, and for it to be happening again…" The dog explained.

"Hey, what's your name anyway?" Siku said, she was curious of this dogs story.

"Serif. Nice to meet you, Siku." He replied as he walked up to Siku and bowed to her a bit.

"What happened in the last town you lived in, Serif?" Siku questioned with curiosity in her voice.

"Well. They came… the wolves you were talking about… They killed our neighbors and nearly every dog in town. Only when they killed the only sheriff and his dog did our family decide it was time to run off. We lived in a small settlement in northern Alaska, and we chose Nome because my owner could still do his job here. Fishing!" Serif explained. Siku watched him with amazement, she had similar dreams months ago about his town, and even thought that she recognized the dog, but it wouldn't be possible, for the dog came to Nome before she was even born.

"Well it's happening again. These wolves want to… kill.. everyone." Siku struggled to explain, after all she was basically telling this dog that the place he ran away to was just as dangerous as the place he left.

"I… Have to go." Serif finally said, then he ran out the door towards his house.

"Poor fella… But we need to get back to the topic at hand." Doc said, then turned to Siku.

Siku spent the next 5 minutes re-telling the dream to the crowd, and answering questions, everything from "when are they going to attack?" to "what do they look like?" Siku gladly answered all of these questions. Then business had to be dealt with.

"Now, we all know what we have to do. These wolves will not stop until everyone in Nome is killed. We can't deny the fact. We know the humans won't know it until it's too late. All last night's event did was tell them that there might be a dangerous wolf out there, but it was killed by Balto." Doc explained. He walked up to sit next to Siku and Kodi to address the crowd.

"Jenna has been taken by the wolves too!" Siku added, halfway cutting off Doc.

"Yes, there's that too." Doc said.

"Steele went to save her, he's out there alone, poor guy." Siku added, ignoring Doc.

"Steele? Steele is out there fighting wolves to save someone who isn't himself." Kirby said with doubt.

"I thought Steele died." Ralph said jokingly.

"No, he's recovered and he seems to have changed… He was given a second chance to live by the white wolf spirit and in return he had to change his ways and befriend Balto to help him any way he can." Kaltag said as he walked over to them.

"Yes, that's true, and I trust him too." Siku said.

"I wish Steele the best of luck, but there are other things we need to worry about." Doc said with despair.

"We need a fight team, a group to help protect our town from the invasion, well until the Humans catch on and do what they can." Doc explained.

"Hah, those wolves will run their tails back to the forest when the humans shoot their guns at them." Kirby said.

"Yeah, that's _if_ they get the chance to run. They won't even get a chance to be shot at, I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into the leader that got Rosy killed… And took my mother…" Kodi finally said.

They spent the next hour or so making a plan of what they were going to do. They were to setup an alert system, and a few dogs would man a fort at the forest edge, if they so much as smelled wolves they would give out the signal and the whole town would be on alert. Their plan included a rigging a bunch of devices that made loud sounds at hopes of waking up the humans and putting them on alert. Hopefully this would prevent another late night murder…

The plan was set, and the dogs would now disperse and begin to set it up. But before they left, Kodi spoke out…

* * *

Kodi. First person.

I woke up to a sound, and turned my head to see Balto struggling to stand up. I didn't get up, or ask what was wrong, I was way too tired. The run from last night did a terrible toll on my body. My legs were pretty numb, and I was thankful that I wouldn't have to run today. Before I could fall back asleep, a voice came from under my paw, Siku. I smiled as I saw her shoot up and walk over to Balto's side. I watched her beautiful coat shine in the low light of this room. She walked over to Balto and nuzzled him, this made me a little bit uneasy, but I ignored it and tried to go back to sleep, but their conversation was very interesting. Balto was unsure that last night was real, or just another dream of his. I wanted desperately to believe it was a dream too.

Last night Rosy died… Me and my mother's owner, and the only human I was able to call my own. I tried not to think about where I was going to live from now on, I figured I'd stay with papa for a while and hope that someone would adopt me. If not, I could always go over to Mr. Simpson and… Oh crap we forgot Mr. Simpson. I smiled at the thought, and looked at Siku as she said "I…It wasn't a dream Balto…". Her voice was full of confidence, and even I needed to hear her say that. It assured me that this was the real world, and not a dream, when dreams now started to feel more and more real. Dusty was gone… And now was Rosy. If the dreams were correct, I might be the next to go. No, I would not think about that, I couldn't think about how I would never see Siku again…

I'm going to tell her I love her today, and I don't care if the entire town disagrees with me, I'd run away with her, we'd live in the forest and she can teach me to hunt. I smiled at this thought, it was a happy thought. I ignored them for the most part, Steele and papa were having some kind of argument, but poor Balto was injured. I guessed that if I tried to move my legs, it would be full of pain, so I laid still. Thinking about Siku, and when I first met her, these thoughts allowed me to sleep easy.

I woke up to Saba nibbling on my back leg; she was growling softly and acting like she was eating it. I ripped my leg out of her teeth and stared at her.

"Sorry, Kodi, just bored. Siku left and nobody is here to play with." She explained. I smiled at my sister's cute explanation.

"It's fine, but where is Siku?" I asked, when I looked around, I also noted that Balto and Steele were also gone, but didn't worry about it.

"Her and Steele helped Balto go visit mom at the vet's office… I hope she's alright." Saba said. She was sad, her face showed it, and she looked to the ground. I moved to her now to comfort her. I was worried about my mother too.

"I'm sure moms alright, she just bumped her head a bit, she'll be fine in no time, watch!" Kodi said optimistically.

"That's what I always love about you Kodi, you always know how to cheer me up when bad things happen. Hey, now that you're finally awake, you think we can go check on her?" Saba asked.

"I suppose so." I got up and tried to walk, my muscles were aching, it didn't hurt much, but it certainly was uncomfortable to walk. I also felt weak, like if I were just 5 pounds heavier I would not be able to walk.

"My paws are killing me…" I heard Saba say.

"You read my mind…" I replied back.

I looked around and noted that we were in Steele's house, then walked out of the doggy door, and Saba followed.

We walked around the first building and crossed the alleyway to the vets office. The whole time I stared at the ground, not caring about where I was walking. I missed Siku already, and she's only been gone for an hour. What a terrible thing love does, and how it prevented me from paying attention to what I was doing…

I walked face first into the side of the building, having tuned the corner a bit too sharp, I fell to the snow and shook my head, Saba was laughing at me, and I couldn't hide my own laughter either. She stopped laughing and helped me up, she seemed to want to ask me something, so I turned to her before she could.

"Kodi, what's wrong with you? You were staring at the ground and then you hit your head. That's not normal, sometimes I wonder if it's good having you as lead dog." Saba smiled at her joke.

I had to tell her something, my sister was always there for me, she wouldn't care about my love of a wolf.

"Saba… I need to tell you something. It's Siku…" I finally managed to say, but Saba shook her head and smiled at me.

"I know, Kodi. And I bet Siku loves you too. You two have been inseparable the past few days, and I recognize love everywhere I see it. After all I was the first one to have to prove to you that you and Dusty were per-…" Saba cut herself off. I didn't blame her, I couldn't hide my sadness, and she caught onto it all too well.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk about Dusty… I'm sorry I did it again, I'll just shut up now." Saba said.

"No, no, it's just… I hope Dusty is alright, I mean, she's been gone for four days now, where the hell could she have run off to? It is my fault, and I won't feel good about it until I make sure she's okay." I explained to Saba, she just stared at me talking the whole time, at full attention.

"Well you love Siku. Any plans on telling her soon? Remember how you almost lost Dusty because you feared she wouldn't love you back?"

"I know… I know…" I said, I know all too well that she was right.

**Kodi and Dusty being together is based off, in part, Baltoluver63's Fan fiction, titled "New Found Emotion: A Kodi and Dusty love story!" If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. The loving parts of it give the cutest explanation of Kodi and Dusty's love for each other, and I'm using its history here.**

"It was nagging thoughts that kept me from saying it… I couldn't live on if Dusty didn't love me back… And I feel the exact same way now… What if Siku doesn't love me back?" I asked my sister, I was desperate.

"Well, Kodi. I know one thing, I'm sure she loves you too, but there is only one way to find out. You have to go for it, remember?" Saba advised me. I knew she was right though, as I thought back to the time when this seemed all too familiar. Back months ago to when I fell for Dusty. It seems like an eternity ago now.

"I'm going to tell her today, Saba. Thank you." As I said this, I went up to Saba to nuzzle her for a bit. I could always trust her to give the right advice, and she knew me too well to give wrong advice.

"Anytime Kodi, and-" Saba cut off as she saw Balto being carried off by Doc. I on the other hand focused on Siku. My heart melted at the sight of her, and I watched as she walked slowly alongside of Doc and Balto. Her coat bounced slightly with every step, and her tail hovered perfectly over the ground no matter where she went. I snapped out of it and walked after them with Saba. They went around the corner, and before we could get there, someone came from the alley to our left. Kaltag and Nikki.

"Good morning you two." Saba said to them, I just went up and sat next to her.

"Hello Saba and… Kodi." Kaltag replied, I noticed the obvious change in his voice when he said my name. He must have blamed me for making Dusty run off.

"I know I ask every day, but have either of you gotten any kind of info on Dusty?" Kaltag asked with slight desperation.

"Nothing, though we did just wake up, and last night… Well… happened." Saba answered.

"Kaltag… I miss Dusty, I know it was my fault she ran off, and I'll look for her in a little bit. There's a place in the forest that we used to go sometimes… Maybe I'll check there." I said to Kaltag.

"Well youse do that, Doc's called everyone to the boiler room." Nikki budded in.

"Yeah, thanks Kodi… You guys coming?" Kaltag said as he walked off towards the Boiler room.

"Yes, of course, and hey Kodi, Siku will be there." Saba said as she nudged to me. I laughed embarrassed and hoped that Kaltag didn't hear that.

We entered the Boiler room, but before I walked in, I heard Siku. She was taking control of the whole room as she talked, it was amazing. She was so full of confidence, and the meaning behind her words meant even more. She was again trying to explain to the others about her dream. I walked in after Saba, and saw her sitting on a higher step with Doc, she looked nervous, and I knew she wouldn't be able to talk. She looked to me and her face instantly changed to a happier one. God I loved her smile.

"Kodi, you're finally awake!" She said to me. I was happy to see her, I can't believe how much I would miss her after such a short time. Once again, I caught myself staring at her, I snapped out of it and tried to talk.

"Hey Siku." I said stupidly, but quickly added more to it. "Yeah, last night's race home was pretty tiring." I tried to hide the awkwardness in my voice, so I walked up to her. I froze for a second, not knowing if I could kiss her just yet, but she made the first move. I felt her muzzle brush my chest and she liked my chin. My heart was beating out of my chest and I hoped that Siku couldn't hear it, but I returned the favor with a kiss to her muzzle.

"Yeah it was, poor Balto didn't recover from it well." Kirby said, he kind of budded in and ruined the moment we were sharing, but I knew it wasn't important. I looked over at my father; he was out cold lying down near the furnace. I really felt bad for him, I mean, it wasn't even my dream and I felt bad for Rosy's death having known that it could have been prevented. I imagined that Balto was beating himself up for this… I promised myself that I would talk to him and try to explain to him that it wasn't his fault. After I replied to Kirby, Siku said something to me.

"It's more than that Kodi… Jenna was taken by the wolves from last night…" She said. Whatever happiness I had was taken away now, but Siku helped, she felt my happiness leave, and she nuzzled me in comfort. I loved how she always knew how to make me feel better.

"They… took my mom?" I said, I couldn't keep my mouth closed, my mother was already hurt and then she was taken by killer wolves… I was pissed, and sad at the same time. But I hid it well, Siku needed me to be strong as she returned to the top platform and began speaking to the others. I ignored what she said mostly, it was all repeats and things that we've already experienced. I stood by Siku's side when she got in an argument with a dog, I prepared to jump at him if he didn't shut the hell up. But when I looked at the dog, I saw the pure expression of fear. Couldn't blame him, I was also scared, who knows what would happen in the next days, or even hours. My anger built up as Siku talked about those wolves more. They took my mother, and god damnit, I wasn't going to let them get away with it.

"Yeah, that's if they get the chance to run. They won't even get a chance to be shot at, I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into the leader that got Rosy killed… And took my mother…" I finally contributed to the conversation, Siku looked at me, she noticed the anger in my words, they spat out like dragon fire. Siku walked over to Doc now, and they along with the other dogs formulated a plan. I listened, it'd be important, but I didn't care. I tried to get my mind off of things, but my thoughts always rested on Siku. I might be killed soon, and I wouldn't die without telling Siku I loved her first. The other dogs had formulated their plan and left to build it, I took my chance.

"Siku… Everyone… Before you go, let me say something before everything happens." I couldn't hold out anymore. My words were loud, like I was yelling to the crowd. Siku turned and looked at me when I said her name at first. The other dogs were just as surprised as she was. I was shaking in nervousness, but I carried on.

"I uh…" Was all I could add to it.

Siku, being the kind and thoughtful spirit she was, sensed my nervousness and walked over to comfort me.

"Siku… I might not get the chance to say this later, so whatever time I have left, I want to spend it saying…it" I couldn't say the damn word.

"What is it Kodi?" Siku asked. Her voice was angelic, and smooth, and filled with caring. She pulled the words out of my mind.

"I love you Siku, and I want to say it a million times over. I love you, and I don't want you to ever forget that." My entire body relaxed when I finally said it. I looked at her, but then turned to everyone else. Some looked surprised, like they should be, others, not so much.

"Well duh…" I heard Kirby whisper to Ralph

"Kodi… I" Siku struggled to speak. I knew what she was going to say, and I prepared for the worst. Rejection would probably drive me insane at this point.

I stared into Siku's eyes, and felt my own start to water. Siku was frozen, but her face said it all. She had no idea what to say. I figured it was at least better than rejection, but I wanted her to speak. Only 20 seconds passed, but it seemed like hours, everyone was staring at us now, but I didn't care. I continued staring into her eyes, hoping she would say something… Anything… So that I could kiss her and hold her tight. She wouldn't get the chance to speak, a damn dog had to come out of nowhere and ruin it…

"GUYS, GUYS, They're here! Oh, it's terrible! They… They killed Serif!" Said the dog, I recognized him as one who used to 'pull the line' before our team took over, but he since then retired due to a broken leg.

"What? They're here already? How many are there?" Doc questioned.

"Just two, but they've killed Serif… Poor guy, he was running home at the time but he was caught outside of town…" The dog explained. I looked past him and noticed that it was already dusk, and the sun would soon go down. I returned my gaze on Siku, but she wasn't looking at me. I simply stared at her head as it pointed at the dog, her ears twitching about but aimed directly at the source of the talking. God I love those ears of hers…

"Siku… Just forget about it, we have things to do." I was trying anything to get off of the subject. Siku had not rejected me, but she didn't exactly say she loved me back yet. I would do something crazy to show my love for her… I would fight.

"Kodi…" She said to me, but I didn't hear her. I ran out with the others, Kaltag and Ralph were at my side. We rushed to the point of where the wolves were last seen. They were running away as soon as they saw us, all 8 of us, turn the corner. I ran after them like I never did before, these assholes took my mother, killed Rosy, and now Serif.

"Kodi, wait for me!" Siku yelled out. It pained me, but I ignored her, and pressed on. We chased them deep into the forest, at least 5 miles in before I finally stopped. I looked back to see who kept up with me, nobody. I was alone, no dog thought it worth it to chase wolves into the forest, a setting that wolves dominated in. I picked up their scent again and ran after them. The sun was completely absent now as I closed in on them, they seemed to be slowing down. I stopped to take another sample of the air and noted three different smells, two of which belonged to the wolves, and the 3rd, Siku.

I ran towards the source and stopped to hide behind a tree. Luckily, the wind was still blowing fiercely from the earlier blizzard, and I was upwind from it. I hid behind a large fir tree, and watched… They had captured Siku and were dragging her body with them… I nearly collapsed at the sight, but a tiny whimper from Siku said that she was alive. They had knocked her out-cold.

Rage turned into adrenaline once again as I roared and jumped from hiding. One of them turned to face me, while the other continued off with Siku. The one that took the right side, had a particularly shiny coat that was tainted with dirt, but it didn't matter, he was going to die. I ran to him, but he dodged me… What was I doing? I'm no fighter… But I would try my best. I focused on him for right now, figured I'd end his life at least. I jumped to him again, and caught his ear, and I quickly, and happily tore it off. This was a short-lived victory, as he retaliated and sunk his teeth into my front leg. I couldn't hold back a scream of pain as his teeth sunk deeper into my leg, scraping bone now. I let his ear go, and bit his arm too, equal punishment, but all I got was a mouth full of fur. I stepped back now, and was a bit proud of the fact that my leg didn't even hurt that much, and that I was walking on it, while the wolf on the other hand seemed to be dying in pain at the loss of his ear. I charged back at him, knocking him on his back, and ripped into his leg again, this time my bite was satisfied with the taste of blood, and with it, my inner-wolf instincts began to come out of its shell.

I returned to a kill mode stance and growled at the wolf as it got up. I let him stand, because I wanted him to at least hold a tiny bit of dignity before I ended his life. We circled around eachother for a second before he charged at me, this time he caught onto my face and nearly ripped my whole muzzle off. He succeeded in tearing off my left lip. No matter, all it would do is get in the way of my teeth. The pain was terrible, but I fought it, and returned a bite to the wolf's back. I sunk my teeth deep into his spine, and I could swear that I heard bones crack. This bite made the wolf fall to the ground, hollering in pain. But he wasn't finished, he caught the top of my right leg and bit into it, he ripped a chunk out of my chest and fore-arm, and blood quickly began to shoot out. Ouch. I started to lose my vision and I knew I would soon black out, but with my vision replaced by pain, I looked over and noticed that Siku had waken up now. She jumped on the wolf that was dragging her, and I watched for a few seconds as she battled the wolf. It was amazing, but I had something a bit important to deal with. I looked down at the wolf that was still trying to snap at me, but he could not get up, he was in far too much pain.

"Here, let me help you out a bit" I said shaking, it didn't even sound like my words, but I said them.

In a split second, I followed my instincts and went in for the kill. Everything was black, I was taken over by my wolven genetics, and bit down into his neck, I didn't like where I bit, so I took another snap at him. He whimpered and barked in pain, but they got higher and higher in pitch until they stopped. It was a satisfying sound, the sound of a life slipping away. Blood filled my mouth as I severed his jugular vein and prevented his life blood from reaching his brain. Such event would kill him in about 15 seconds. His blood tasted like Copper, and I liked it. I shook my head at the thought; I was dealing with a genuine blood-lust, as I wanted to kill each and every wolf that dared harm my family or friends. I let the wolf go now, having been reminded that Siku was also fighting, by the loud sounds of her tiny growling. I sat down and watched now, with the pain, I couldn't walk to her, but she didn't need my help anyway. I watched as she jumped on the wolf's back and bit down into his neck, and instantly, the wolf fell to the ground. Siku was a natural-born killer, and I loved it, she was just the kind of girl I wanted in my life, one that could share my newfound blood-lust for these assholes.

"Siku that was amazing…" I said, but struggled to speak. Adrenaline was wearing off now and the pain was growing fast. Blood was steadily dripping out of my chest and I would faint soon, but having Siku here made me fight to stay conscious.

"Kodi, I'm so glad you're here… I followed you, but they caught me by surprise and hit me…" I heard her say, she was frightened, and I could only imagine how scared she must have been.

"Was it this guy who hit you?" I asked as I hinted to the wolf that I killed.

"Yeah… Why?" She asked, but I ignored it and struggled to walk over to the wolf. Each step was filled with pain as it caused my wounded chest to move about. When I got to the dead wolf I picked up my paw and slammed it down hard onto the wolf's face, making blood shoot out of his nose. I might have even fractured his skull, but it didn't cause a problem to him, now wouldn't it?

"Kodi stop, that's… bad." Siku said, but I noticed her smile, and it made me feel better.

"Siku, we don't have much time, I might not be able to walk back to town, I'm losing too much blood… I…" But I didn't say it. She had already failed at responding to me earlier, and I wasn't going to try and say it now, where she would seem forced to say it. I couldn't do that to her so I finished my sentence.

"I… couldn't believe you killed that wolf without even getting a scratch." I noticed her relax as I said that.

"Kodi…" She said again, it was a carbon copy of what she said earlier in the boiler room. She caught onto my failed attempt at changing the subject.

"All of this is new to me, I mean, I was all alone for my whole life up until 5 days ago. But Kodi… I..." She continued talking, but I prepared for the worst, I felt the loss of blood starting to take its toll on me and I fell to the ground and closed my eyes, I couldn't do anything else as my senses began to be overridden by pain, but the pain was starting to slowly fade out...

"Kodi? Kodi you can't die on me now…" Siku said, she started crying again, as she seemingly realized that I might not survive this.

"Listen to me, I.. I love you too Kodi. Kodi? Kodi… I love you, always remember that, I'm sorry I didn't say it earlier... Please don't leave me… I need you to be alive, I need you by my side…" She buried her face into my chest now and I felt it get wet with her tears.

"Kodi, don't leave me... Don't go..."

All sounds were drowned out, the leaves above brushing in the wind, the occasional break of the canopy above that dropped snow onto the ground, the distant sounds of thunder from the blizzard, the birds that chirped above, and Siku's crying, all vanished. It was absent, but her words stuck with me for the eternity that my mind took to shut down. It started playing tricks on me, seemingly to tease me, tease me with things I could never have. It began showing images of me and Siku running free through a sunny field near Nome. We would fall on top of each other like we did the first time, and I would lean down to kiss her again. She would return it, and my mind would fill with happiness. I would tell her I loved her, and I watched her mouth make out the words "I love you too." These thoughts continued to fade away, and began to fill with eternal darkness…

* * *

**Holy moly cliffhanger. I'm terrible for doing this, but again, this chapter is long as hell already. Like I said, this entire story will be long. I'm hoping to break the 100,000 word level with this one. Doesn't look like it'll be much of a problem, we're 6 chapters in and I have barely began to scratch the surface of this story.**

**Expect more of a delay this time, the first 6 chapters were thoroughly planned out in my head and went over multiple times, but as you read here, it was obvious that I was starting to run dry. All I have now are ideas and a plotline for what will happen next. I know what will happen; now I need the juices to fill in the gaps. Also expect more first person points of view, and fewer dreams that mean stuff, unless you guys like that sort of stuff.**

**I thank you all for reading; I do this for myself mostly, for the entertainment of my imagination, and to help get through an emotional time (nothing serious). I don't beg for your reviews. The fact that someone, somewhere out there read a story that I wrote is good enough for me.**

**Chapter 7 coming June 2015**


	7. New characters, and rescues

**A lot of things seem to happen fast here, with each scene only taking up about 1000 words. I'm adding filler in-between, and now that there are about 6 POV's now (soon to be 7 shhhhhh) I've started making them smaller, and they take up less time chronologically in the story. Later battles will take longer, and so will scenes also last longer, both in word count, and actual time that has passed in the story.**

* * *

Jenna, first person. Vets' office.

Everything around me was hidden, hidden behind black, hidden behind my eyelids. I was unsure about anything, was I dead? No, then I wouldn't be able to hear, or smell anything. I could not move, I could not open my eyes, so I used my sense of hearing and smell to figure out my position. Under me I smelt... Metal. And the smells of many various medic supplies, and finally, recognized a human smell. Dr. Osnik. I used my ears now, unable to move them to the optimal angle; I listened, and heard that he was standing on the other side of the room, preparing something. I could not move, could not speak, but I wasn't feeling any pain. "What is this?" I wondered. Then the rest of my mind seemed to wake up, and the memories of last night started to flood my mind. Last night Rosie was killed, I remembered everything, how the innocent little girl was brutally killed by the wolf, how I failed to get up and come to her rescue. But I also remembered that the wolf was brutally killed by Balto. I was surprised by Balto's savage side, it kind of scared me. Balto was always a caring compassionate and docile wolf-dog, but last night, he was just a wolf, a wolf that killed another in blind rage. I couldn't think for long, until I started hearing noises. A few other humans walked in now, I listened to them closely, not being able to do anything else.

"Daddy, come on! Moms already half way to Marci's house by now!"

"Ha-ha, you know I wouldn't miss my niece's baby shower for the world." Dr. Osnik replied with laughter. I heard him put whatever he was working on down on the table and grabbed his coat.

I was horrified, if I were indeed hurt, and I obviously was, the vet wouldn't leave me… Would he? I soon got my answer as I heard him walk out the door with his daughter. I panicked, but unable to move, all that I could do was scream in my endless mind. What the hell was wrong with me? Was I in some kind of coma? Completely conscience, yet unable to move anything! For almost an hour, I screamed, trapped in a terrible prison, my own mind. Everything was silent; all except for a machine that I figured was monitoring me, because it beeped faster when I panicked. For the next hour, I would try raising my heartbeat; just to entertain myself as the machine seemed like the only thing I was in control of. For hours I laid on the cold metal operating table, waiting for nothing. But that would soon change, as I both heard, and smelled a few new things enter my room quietly.

Wolves.

At least four of them circles my table, then two of them jumped up and sniffed at me. I was Terrified, and listened in on their conversation, again, not like I had another choice.

"You sure this is the dog?" I heard one of them ask.

"Yes, copper and cream female husky."

"Jenna." One of them said my name... It sent chills down my spine. The voice was full of sinister and pure hatred, like I was some kind of virus on the world.

"Alright, you and Drakken help me pick up the girl, and Scion, you make sure nobody gets in our way." I heard the obvious leader of the group say.

I felt them pick me up by my fur on three different parts of my body, it hurt where one of them were holding me by. He had his teeth locked on the skin of my back leg... This entire ordeal was uncomfortable enough, without having one of them so close to a certain area... They picked me up and dragged me off of the table, but one of them let loose, the one holding me by my neck, and my already injured head hit the ground full force. Something clicked, and I heard as they froze, and let go if me. I had regained use if my legs and was kicking frantically. I shot open my eyes and looked at my attempted dog-nappers for a split second, before running away as quickly as I could. It was useless, I was still lightheaded, and lost my balance as I crashed into the walls of the hallway. Surprisingly, I made it to the door, only to find out that it was locked. I scratched at it like a crazy person, desperately trying to escape the wolves.

"Heh, you aren't going anywhere girl." Nehalem said to me with a calm voice.

"Why! Why do you want me?" I pleaded.

"It's nothing personal, I just hate all dogs, but don't worry, you won't be killed just yet. We need you as bait." He said with a devious smile.

"No! Help! Somebody!" I screamed

"Bad move." Nehalem said, and with a split second of white, I was knocked back out, and fell to the floor as the wolves continued to drag me out into the cold Alaskan night, without so much as a single witness to the event.

Nehalem.

The group eventually got to their pack home. Nehalem had gotten Scion to help carry Jenna, while he walked alongside them. Once they had gotten to the tree line that surrounded the base of the cliff side, Nehalem let out a long transcribed howl. He got a reply howl, and three more wolves came from hiding. He had setup sentries around the perimeter to defend the pack from intruders. If an unknown wolf entered the area, they'd be killed pretty damn quickly.

"Where should we put her?" One of them, asked.

"Just throw her in an empty cave, keep two of your men on her at all times." Nehalem ordered.

"Got it boss." The wolf replied with a devious smile. He had other, more sinister ideas as to what Nehalem meant when he said "keep two men on her."

"And no funny business, god damnit, I know how you two are." Nehalem added angrily.

"Understood." The wolf replied with a hint of spite.

Nehalem walked alongside Scion and Drakken, he met up with Mason and growled at the sight. Mason was covered in bite and scratches, and was dripping blood.

"And just what in the hell happened to you? God damnit Mason, why can't you hold your shit together?" Nehalem angrily scolded.

**(Note that Nehalem uses the term "God damnit" a lot, it has to do with his beliefs that there is not a god, and only a single spirit by the name of Amarok watched over them.)**

"I'm sorry boss, I didn't start it, the asshole got smart about my mother."

"Well I see that you're all banged up, did you at least end his miserable life?" Nehalem questioned.

"Easily, unfortunately that means we are now only thirty-one in numbers"

"No matter, anyone who couldn't hold themselves in a fight with someone like you shouldn't live anyway." Nehalem said with a smile at his insult/ compliment.

"Haha, yeah, ahhw." Mason said, and then cringed in pain at his injured leg.

"Go get fixed up, I've got the girl, Balto will be here soon"

"Right, boss." Mason said, then walked off towards the creek.

He looked to Scion before he turned away; he was more and more ashamed of what his friend got himself into.

Mason.

Mason walked down the dusty trail that led through two large trees; it was one that the wolves used every day to access the nearby creek. As he walked, he passed a few other pack members, and they seemed to praise him for his victory. That's how this pack ran, turning on your members was not treason or betrayal, it meant the two were at a battle, and if you survived, all it means is that you could fight. And the other, who died, obviously wouldn't be much use to the pack as a fighter anyway. There were often battles amongst the pack, and it only worked to form a type of natural selection that, over the years, left the pack with only the strongest members, and weeded out the weak ones. The strongest members, in turn mated, creating stronger pups, and the process repeated, for years. Now the pack was full of stronger, smarter, and bigger wolves than anywhere else in Alaska.

Mason reached the creek, which was a bit swollen by the blizzard upstream, and the cooler waters confirmed the blizzards presence upstream. Mason looked up at the sky, it was tinting blue now, and the sun would finally show its warming face for the first time in over 18 hours. Mason always loved the sun, but it was tainted by what the pack would soon do. When the sunrises, Phase two of Nehalem's plan would soon come into action. He would send one of them to tell Balto of their new prisoner, and request that he come, alone, by nightfall, which was just a few hours away. Mason stepped into the deeper part of the stream, and simply stood there, letting the cold water sooth his bite marks and injuries as it flowed across him. He closed his eyes to enjoy his victory bath, but he couldn't hold back sadness. He didn't like fighting, did not like having to end another one's life, but the bastard just had to provoke him. In all honesty, Mason only fought him in self-defense. Nobody would know it, but Mason was not the least bit altered by Amarok, nor was he forced to follow Nehalem's altered versions of Amarok's teachings. So why did he stay, why choose a life of evil? He did it because he was trapped. The pack was his family, his mom, dad, brothers, sisters, and extended family, all operated in the pack. Nehalem would not only kill him, he would kill his family, if Mason decided to leave. Admittedly, Mason could have run away, but he did like Nehalem's way of doing things, Mason disliked humans and dogs as much as Nehalem did, and if it meant being forced to work for him, to Mason, it seemed like a win-win situation.

Mason stayed in the creek for a full hour, allowing it to drag him down river. He didn't care; he enjoyed his time and let himself escape from the terrible things he'd have to do soon. Nehalem and the others wouldn't need him for another few hours anyway. He looked to the sky and read the sun; it was already showing, low in the sky, just barely above the trees. That was as far as it would reach before starting to set in just three hours. Mason figured that he was at least a mile down river by now; the cool river carried him, while speeding up his recovery. His bite marks were already starting to heal by now.

He walked out of the river and shook the water off, his fur crazily flowing around through the air, shooting water everywhere. Mason walked over to the river edge and stared into it, he examined his own features as if he did not know who he was. He wasn't the largest wolf in the pack; his bloodline consisted of smaller timber wolves, rather than the great wolves of the north that most of the pack descended from. The other members of the pack rarely poked fun at him about it, because, though he was small, he made his fighting abilities known, and even became Nehalem's right hand wolf.

Mason didn't like how his fur stood up, so he dipped his head in the water and pulled it out, shaking it off again. His reflection was so alien to him; he did not recognize the wolf looking back at him. His fur was almost brown- grey all over his body, and like Nehalem, had multiple scars all over his body from previous battles, like the one he just got through with. He had shed a lot of blood in his time, but one scar would always be a reminder of when he tried to defy Nehalem's command, one scar that went from an inch above his eye, crossed it, and extended halfway down his right cheek. Nehalem ripped into his face with his long, and obviously sharp claws. A single hit that caused Mason to regret his loyalty to Nehalem ever since then. The sky above him was getting a bit cloudy now, and he figured he should head home; Nehalem's plans would call for his presence.

He took a step, but then froze, and pointed his head in another direction, a scent caught onto him... A familiar scent, one that he hasn't smelt in almost a year. He followed it, a whole mile west of the river, and south from the direction of Nome. He picked up new smells, blood, and a lot of it. There was also at least one dog. He hid behind a tree, thankful that he was downwind from the canines, and watched them. The setting sunk his heart, Siku was crying over her dead friend. Mason was torn apart by it, yes he hated dogs, but he never really wanted to kill them. He watched for a few minutes more, before he'd confront them...

Siku, first person. Reunited.

My spirit was broken; I didn't want to leave... I didn't want to leave Kodi here alone. My chest was wet with not only blood, but kept wet by my constant tears. I wished so much that Kodi would recover, but it didn't look good. It's been almost a full hour of me just sitting here, unable to do anything else. Kodi had killed off the wolf that hit me and he paid the ultimate price for it. Or so I thought, I wasn't exactly sure if he was dead at the moment, I was too afraid to know the answer. I stepped back to examine Kodi, his chest wound wasn't bleeding any more, in-fact, it seemed like it was starting to heal already! I didn't know what to think, but it meant he was alive. I jumped in joy, and to confirm it, I placed my paw on Kodi's chest, away from the bloody side, and waited. I felt a heartbeat. Kodi was alive alright, his heart beating a bit slower, but his breathing came only a few times per minute. Man was I being an idiot, all this time I was sitting here crying, when I could have run for help. But I knew that I would not be able to leave Kodi. He'd never leave my side. After a few more seconds of celebration, I kissed Kodi one more time.

"I promise you I will be back, take... Care of yourself Kodi." I found it hard to say. I knew I was in the middle of the woods, and at least ten miles from home. I knew that there was a risk of running into more wolves along the way. But I could handle myself, in only a year of surviving alone; I've taught myself how to kill, and how to do it good. If any wolf wanted to take a snap at me, I'd make sure it was his last. I couldn't help but smile at my newfound arrogance, but figured it was better than crying about my lost friend... And the one I loved...

I loved Balto and Kodi since the first time I saw them, but I loved Balto like he was my pack alpha, a leader, protector, and even a father I never had. I loved Kodi for the same reasons, he was also my protector, but I knew there was more. Up until just recently, I've never even knew what love felt like, how it could cause me so much happiness just to be in his presence, but at the same time, stab me in the heart with a rusty fork when I couldn't be. I couldn't deny it, I wanted so much to tell Kodi that I loved him back earlier at the old mill, it wasn't that I was embarrassed, I'd tell each and every dog in the town that I loved Kodi, and that he loved me, but it was the fear that kept me back, the fear that this very thing would happen. Kodi has died so many times in my dreams, it shouldn't have affected me nearly as much as it did when I faced it for real, but instead, it hurt much worse. And I wasn't even sure Kodi was in fact dead yet. I was too lost in my thoughts to notice something... The winds have shifted, and revealed something hiding behind a tree about 50 meters away.

I lifted my lips and armed my fangs, growling, ready to kill whatever it is that were spying on me. I closed the distance, and charged for the attack, but froze halfway at the sight...

Mason.

"S-Siku, is that really you?" Mason said with tears in his eyes.

I immediately remembered who this was, and the memory of him was so far dislodged that I probably could not remember him just a few minutes ago, no matter how much I thought. Only seeing this smaller, brown and grey wolf, for real, right in front of me, would the memories unlock and tell me exactly who it was.

"Dad... PAPA!" I screamed in happiness, and ran up to hug him. I noticed his hesitation, but he couldn't fight it and let tears fall from his eyes as he ran to meet me. He brought me in and held me tight, my only blood, my only family, my only father.

"I... I can't believe it's really you Siku, my beautiful daughter." Mason said with tears of joy.

"Yeah, it's me alright" I stupidly replied, I was equally thrown off by the event.

"Siku, you've grown!" He said as he finally let me go, but I didn't let him go.

"Of course I have papa, my first birthday is coming up next week!" I said, half crying and half happy.

"It's okay girl, papa's here, I'll never let you out of my sight again." My father said, and he meant it too, I could sense it.

"I never want to leave your sight again." I replied, reverting back to the little four week old puppy when I was abandoned.

"You could never forgive me for running out in you like that, because I don't. And never will. I left due to force, but I could have fought it, fought off those damn demons, but I let them take me... Take me from my only child..." He said, and cried a bit more at the last part.

"I don't blame you; I know what the demons are capable of..." I replied, though I've only ever encountered them in my dreams.

"Shh, shh. I just want to hold you tight for now." He said, still trying hard to fight off undignified crying.

He held me close to his chest for a while, before I had to speak up. We had stopped crying, but weren't saying much. I simply enjoyed my father's heartbeat. I'd remember lying on his chest when I were young, listening to it, so powerful it sounded.

"Dad." I finally said.

"Yes Siku?"

"I have to go, I... Need to get help for him." I said. He seemed to tense up and finally released me.

"The dog?" He said with a bitter taste to it.

"Yes, "the dog". His name is Kodiak, he's saved my life two times now, and I owe him at least this." I said proudly.

Mason seemed to be paralyzed. He still hated dogs, but never would he wish death upon one of them. He still had his morals, and that was to not judge someone by their appearances. Maybe this dog wasn't so bad, obviously his daughter liked, or even loved, as he suspected, this dog. He'd have to grow to like him too.

Mason looked around for the first time since he got here, and noticed two of his pack mates dead, and torn apart. Rather than seemed pissed about it, remember that this wasn't a normal pack, he didn't care all that much. He was simply impressed that his daughter killed one of them off, and that a dog killed the other one. Not only did he not care about the wolves, "damn bastards, served them right" popped up in his mind.

"Dad?" I seemed to knock him out of his trance, even though I didn't want to leave him, my body was already pulling away, and started heading back to Nome.

"Wait Siku. I'm... Sorry. I can't help this dog, but I can help you. The southern patrol of wolves will come by here in less than an hour, and they will most surely find... The dog here." He struggled to say, not using the dog's name.

"Oh no… Father, you must help me save him, we can't let this happen…" I said, still noticing how I seemed to revert to a month old pup again in his presence.

"You go, I'll take... Kodi, away and hide him off, and hopefully distract the wolves if they crossed my path." Mason was pained to say it; his daughter was yet again leaving him.

"Dad... Thank you. I know it's a bit too early to tell you, but that dog, Kodi, well... I love him." I was relieved to tell him.

"Love, huh? Heh heh, well he is quite handsome." Mason joked, his usual way of dealing with an awkward situation.

"Yeah, uh, I have to go, sorry. I want to see you again."

"Siku you can..." But he froze and continued a second later, "Good luck Siku." I noticed the great amount of pain in his words. I knew that he was going to ask me to live with him, but I knew as well as he did that it couldn't happen. I've denied the truth the entire time, but I know he is from the same pack of the wolves we killed, and that meant he was part of the pack of killers. I held my head low as I turned from him and ran, tears fell slowly and dried off as the wind ripped past me, I just wanted to run, run without reason, but it did have a reason, Kodi needed help, and I hoped telling my father that I loved him would prevent him from turning in Kodi... Or worse... I shunned the thoughts and focused on my running. I jumped at the sounds of thunder in the distance, a storm would be overhead soon. It was still a while off, and at the pace I'm running at, I'd be back home in no time.

Balto, awakening.

The mill was silent, doc and two other dogs watched over Balto, who fell, unconscious, over two hours ago. The dogs would have to take him to the vet if he didn't wake up soon. He didn't have any type of fever, so that was a good sign that he would eventually wake up.

"Poor guy, he ran 90 miles back home in record time, yet he couldn't prevent Rosie's death. And worst of all, he blames himself for it." One of them said.

"His spirit is shot; it'd be much harder for an emotionally broken dog to wake up than a physical broken one. And the love of his life being taken away from him wouldn't help his spirit at all." Doc said wisely.

"Oh Balto..." A female voice said. Doc moved over to reveal to the others that the voice came from a female malamute named Eve. She always had a soft spot for the wolf-dog, attracted to his sleek form, and she secretly loved his wolf side, as it was always a bit of a secret fetish that, not only her, but other dogs have kept hidden. Surprisingly though, she was also friends with Jenna, and would never do anything to break it. The other three dogs watched as she walked up to Balto. She knelt down and kissed him on the head, then carefully aimed and hit his head in the same spot.

"Wake up you idiot wolf! Jenna needs you damnit!" She yelled in his ears. The other dogs found this whole thing a bit surprising, but were even more surprised when it actually worked.

"Ahhck. I feel terrible." Balto muttered without moving much. He eventually stretched his legs out, then turned and stood, staring at the dog that hit him.

"Hey guys, oh no... How long was I out?" Balto asked worried.

"A few hours, Balto. I'm afraid I do not have good news, only more bad news." Doc answered.

"Please, give me a second first; I don't want to fall out again." Balto said, doc nodded to him and Balto shook his head again, it always worked. His mind was now focused, and he noticed that his headache had seemed to leave thanks to his latest nap.

"Okay, what's the news..." He said, preparing for the worst.

*sigh "Balto, we've gotten no word from Steele, and he's been gone since morning. What's worse is that the wolves came back once again, they killed serif, and in rage Kodi and Siku ran after the wolves deep into the forest. Kaltag trailed them the farthest, but he returned and said that he lost their trail _seven_ miles into the forest. We have not heard from Siku or Kodi since then."

"You have got to be kidding me… Kodi… My son, is next to die… Damn those wolves, I'll tear them all apart if they touch my family!" Balto stood, and to his surprise his pulled muscles seemed to have healed in his short two hour forced nap. He walked towards the door, but was stopped by Eve.

"Eve, I thank you for waking me, but would you kindly move your ass away from the door." He said with a stern stare at be dog.

"No Balto. I won't let you go out there and get yourself killed." Eve yelled while blocking his passage.

"I have to save my family!" Balto roared. He hadn't meant to frighten Eve, but she was obviously intimidated. Balto walked around her, but she jumped to the side and blocked him yet again.

"Eve!" Balto said. Doc and the other two dogs walked over to Eve's side and blocked Balto.

"Guys, what the hell are you doing?"

"Balto, listen to reason. You cannot fight off an entire pack, you'd be better off here. We need your help in organizing some type if rescue party. If you'd let me explain the plan we devised while you we're unconscious?" Doc asked

"Fine, make it quick. Every second that my family is in danger, my rage boils over tenfold." He said with a short growl at the end.

"Understood." Doc said, picking up his hostility. He respected the wolf-dog so he would do his best not to upset him anymore.

Balto listened to his plan, Eve still sat by the door in case he tried to run off, but Balto shot her a look that she needn't worry.

He patiently sat as Doc explained his part in the plan, and when he was done, Balto found that he loved the plan.

"Wow, you guys came up with this in your own?" Balto said unbelievingly.

"Yes, now your part is simple, you will confront the leader yourself; he'd surely kill your family and send his entire pack to ravage Nome if you brought company. Meanwhile, we will send in a support team to check on the situation with Jenna, and hopefully, Kodi. If Steele fails in returning Jenna, then the team will sneak in. I've assigned two of the best dogs for this mission, they're trained Russian Spies" Doc said with a smile.

"Kodi... Dammit why did you have to run off too?..." Balto muttered.

"Siku is with him, we both know that they can handle themselves well."

"But they're just kids... I swear that Nehalem bastard better not do anything he'd regret." Balto said as he paced back and forth, words spat out like venom. Doc had never seen Balto like this before, even back all those years ago when he fought off Devil's gang, and silenced Blaze peacefully.

(**"Devil", "Blaze" "Balto's speech with Blaze", "Balto's battle with Devil", "Balto's battle with Devil's gang" all Copyright ©"The Cool Kat" from his fan fiction "Heritage Of The Wolf: Salvation 3")**

"Trust me, they will pay." Eve said out of nowhere.

"Now Balto, if you'd walk with me to talk to the sentry group, they've chosen your boat as a good vantage point, if you don't mind. We've already talked to Boris, he more than happily agreed." Doc explained.

"I don't care; just make sure they do their jobs correctly."

"You can tell them yourself. I hope you understand my meaning when I say that you alone proved hope and courage for us, we need you far greater than you can conceive." doc explained, wise words from a wise man, Balto knew he was right.

"I've never thought that way, why would I be a beacon of hope? All I did was save some kids a year ago." Balto said modestly, like he always did when his heroic deed was ever brought up.

"It's more than that, parents already tell your story to motivate their pups, the story of the wolf-dog whom everyone rejected, but he secretly had a heart of good and this proved true when he saved the kids of Nome.

"Great" Balto said, half sarcastically, and half proudly.

"I'd suggest we get a move on, I as much as you hope to see Kodi and Jenna returned safe and sound, Balto." Doc offered.

"Thanks, we should go, that is, if Eve will let us" Balto said with a smile at Eve. She of course melted at the sight of Balto's smile, and moved to the side.

The five walked out and headed over to Balto's boat, as an unknown was watching them the whole time and listened to their plan.

Steele, first person. The rescue.

2-part scene

I panicked, heading towards a rock wall that would also lead to a fall of at least another hundred feet or more. The roar of an avalanche closing in on me, I wondered if I would even make it far enough to fall off the cliff, without being hit by the snow-wall that was traveling twice my speed. I closed my eyes and thought for a second what Aniu taught me...

"Allow my body to progress, into the spirit world I will visit, in order to save my conscious form." I said, repeating the words Aniu taught me, and with it, I felt a weird sensation in my feet, it was no longer sore from tearing through snow for miles now, and instead I felt weightlessness. I was still traveling in upwards of 60 miles per hour, but I wasn't falling down the valley any more... Instead I was floating... In a straight path matching my velocity, but it was like I had zero mass. I looked down and saw that I was now thirty feet off I the ground, and I eventually flew over, and across the canyon. I looked down to the bottom of it, I predicted a hundred feet or so drop, but boy was I mistaken. The tiny river at the bottom of the chasm was at least 500 feet down below me. I panicked again, trying to "swim" against the direction I was flying in, unable to move as my body no longer had a grip on the physical world. Aniu had given me the gift to vanish from the normal world, and accept passage into the spirit world temporarily.

"Oh thank Aniu." I said aloud. Once I safely floated across, two spirits came to my side and seemed to form a bubble around me, and everything became blurry, I heard a heavenly voice singing my name, telling me my time here was over, and with a pop of the bubble, I found myself falling, still at fifty miles per hour, down to the far, but safe ground that was 20 feet below me. I hit the ground hard, and began to roll a bit. This side of the ground was also slanted towards the canyon, but at a much shallower angle, and that helped to finally stop me. I rolled for a bit, and came to a stop. I sat down for a second, thinking about what just happened, but didn't spare much time to my thoughts, the wolves chasing me would return to the pack and tell then of my escape, Nehalem would just send them back out again, and the entire pack would be on alert.

"Well that was fun, but time to save Jenna!" I said loud and proud as I began to run north, upriver and away from the canyon. I looked back just in time to see the mountain of melted snow and ice that trailed me as it fell down into the canyon. All evidence of the avalanche disappeared into the canyon without a single problem, then everything got quiet. I continued on my path, and maintained a speed of around 40 miles per hour, just in case. I didn't want to get into more trouble and have to bother the spirit world again. I followed the river until it was shallow enough to swim across, but then I caught a smell in the water, blood, and wolf blood. I figured some poor bastard upstream was cleaning his wounds off (Mason). I didn't think much of it and ran off east, towards the pack home... The trees soared past me, and the ground seemed to flow beneath me, I was running very fast, and reached a recognizable place in less than an hour. As I settled back down in the ledge across from Nehalem, I noticed something... There were only about five wolves visible...

"Oh no, that must mean that they're heading for Nome..." I thought.

After sampling the air, I confirmed that Jenna was indeed in range, she was being held in the lower cave. I stared into it, but it was too dark and far away to really see anything.

A distant sound made me jump, thunder. I looked to the south and noticed a huge storm cloud in the distance, only this time it didn't seem like a blizzard, and would bring cold unforgiving rain.

"Good." I thought with a smile, I'd use the storm as cover.

Jenna and Steele. The rescue attempt 2.

Drakken and another wolf were sleeping in front of Jenna, they knew that Nehalem would kick their asses if he found that they were sleeping when they were supposed to be watching over such an important asset to his plans, but they didn't care, they've been up for a full day now, and were working for most of it. The entire pack was starting to show fatigue, Nehalem had kept them up since yesterday morning, planning various things, sending patrols out into the forest, and sent two to Nome to check on the situation. They had failed, and lucky Nehalem had not noticed that the two wolves hadn't returned yet. Kodi and Siku finished them off. Nehalem probably wouldn't care anyways; they had failed a simple recon mission, and instead killed a dog in the process, alerting the population of yet another wolf attack. This put a dent in Nehalem's plans, and he probably would have killed the wolves themselves if they returned.

Jenna was tired too, but not from being worked all day, she suffered a concussion yesterday and had yet to rest easy enough to recover at all, but it didn't matter, she woke up in the den and quietly looked around. It was dark; the wolves had taken her deep into a cave to hold her prisoner. She looked down and gasped quietly at the sight of the two wolves that were sleeping in-front of her. She finally had full control of her body, no longer paralyzed, but she was unsure that she could escape without waking the wolves, who were blocking her path. She pointed her nose in the air to get some kind of radar around her, and noticed 8 different canines, 7 of them were wolves, but one smell she had learned to hate almost as much…

Steele.

"Why is Steele here? He must have gotten caught too, hah." She thought with humor, but to her surprise, Steele whispered to her from the opening of the cave.

"Psst, Jenna." Steele very, very quietly and carefully whispered.

Jenna didn't answer, and just stared at him, confused.

"I'm here to help you." Steele whispered, even quieter this time.

"I thought you were dead!" Jenna replied a bit harshly.

Steele just smiled and shook his head, and then he quietly jumped down.

"ssst" Steele alerted as he motioned to the wolves, he was acting out with his paws that he was going to silence them.. Once and for all. Jenna nodded and got closer to the wolves, prepared to do something if they cried out. She watched quietly as Steele lifted a paw and struck the wolf with intense force. It hollered out for a split second but instantly stopped as it seemed that Steele dented his head in with that single hit, killing him instantly. "Wow" Jenna thought. Luckily he hadn't woken up Drakken, and Steele did the same thing. He brought down his paw one more time and struck the wolf too, but it didn't work to kill him, and the wolf jumped up with a growl. Before he even made any move towards Steele, he let out a loud howl, alerting the whole pack, but was quickly knocked far away by Steele. Jenna had was surprised, was her mind playing tricks on her? Steele seemed to bolt towards the dog like lightning, she shook away the thoughts and watched Steele fight, waiting for the chance to jump in.

"No, Jenna, I've got this, no need for you to get hurt now." Steele said as he dodged the wolf's bites like they were nothing.

"Both of you dogs are going to die tonight, it doesn't matter if you kill me, my brethren will see to your demise!" Drakken snarled out.

"This guy's crazy!" Steele said with a smile, he seemed to be having fun, even though he has yet to hit the wolf, neither has Drakken hit him. He was incredibly fast and swift for being a rather large dog.

Jenna noticed how Steele seemed completely different, he seemed to care for Jenna's survival, but that didn't seem to matter much, he probably just wanted her not to be hurt so that he could claim more credit for returning her safely, or some other selfish motive. Another thing she noticed, he didn't seem to be enraged by the wolf, she's seen him in fights many times, most of them with Balto and he would always be blinded by rage and tried to kill his opponent. It would usually cause him to lose, because he'd get tired, or get clumsy. But this time, he was calmly dodging the wolf and waited for his chance to strike, like if he somehow changed his mentality and actually got smarter… hah.

Jenna watched as Steele finally took a hit at Drakken, he turned around a back-kicked him into the cave wall with incredible force, the wolf started coughing blood now, he was bleeding internally from the blow, and with his last strength he watched Steele walk up to him to finish him off, but a howl came from the cave entrance, and 5 wolves followed.

"Well then, Jenna, our play time is over here, jump on my back." Steele offered genuinely as he lowered his back legs.

"Steele? What do you mean?"

"No time Jenna, just jump on and wrap your arms around me!" Steele barked back, but it didn't seem at all aggressive, more, he actually wanted Jenna to be safe. She sensed this and without further stalling, she jumped on him and wrapped around his neck. Steele's smell became one that she learned to hate, and now that she was pretty much on top of him, it almost concentrated enough to make her barf. She couldn't think long before Steele jumped up and took off.

"Hold on tight, Jenna." He said as they closed the gap between them and the wolves that were blocking their exit. Jenna nodded right before Steele made his escape, and they both stared at the wolves. Steele jumped almost as high as the cave was tall, and over the wolves, who all had a surprised face on them, Jenna did too, and in all honesty, so did Steele. He landed surprisingly soft in the snow outside the den, but he didn't stick around, 6 wolves came out of the den, howling and barking mad at the two.

"What do we do now? We can't outrun them!" Jenna yelled to Steele.

"Hah, can't we? Again, you might want to hold on tight, Jenna. We don't want you falling off and bumping your head again." Steele said with a caring voice. It made Jenna feel safe in Steele's company, for once. "What the hell happened to Steele?" Jenna thought.

Steele pressed on, and quickly accelerated to about 50 miles per hour. Jenna tried to keep her eyes open, as Steele started running even faster, she looked at the trees and noticed that they were just a blur as Steele precisely navigated through them and avoided collisions in mere microseconds. She panicked for a second at the intense speed, Steele was reaching 100 MPH now, but it was a surprisingly smooth ride since he taught himself to take longer steps instead of many, quick and small ones.

"Steele! How are you running this fast!" Jenna had to scream, the wind was silencing both of them. Steele stayed quiet for a few seconds.

"I'll explain later, when you're safe and sound in Nome!" Steele said. Jenna sighed in relief, in all honesty, she did not trust Steele and with his speed, he could have taken her anywhere and do who knows what, but she started recognizing the forest and noted that Home was not far away now.

Mason and Kodi.

2 part scene

Mason watched as his daughter ran away from him. He was without his daughter again, but his time she had left him. Once again, he fought off tears, but he was proud of his daughter, such determination and selflessness, the way that he always hoped to raise her, and even though he didn't get the chance, she ended up that way anyway. He looked down at the dog that his daughter was in love with... Kodi. It would be hard, but Mason would go against what he believed and help this dog, he'd do it for Siku, but he did hope that he would get to talk to this dog, and maybe see if he liked him. He was fully prepared to accept a dog into his family if his daughter loved him.

*sigh* "I've only known my daughter for twenty minutes and she's giving me a hard time." He smiled at his attempt at talking down on his daughter, but mentally scolded at himself for the thought, after all, he did not raise her, she had to raise herself.

Mason closed his eyes, missing out on raising his own daughter is the worst thing you can take from a man, and he thought about retaliation against Nehalem just for that. He looked to the sky, and noticed that a storm would soon cover the area.

"Good, maybe it would wash the scent away. The terrible, disgusting dog scent." He said, half-joking. He was mocking himself as, just earlier today he would have probably killed this dog, but now he was determined to make sure he survives... No matter what he had to do...

"Ugh, I have to do this… don't I?" He mentally asked himself.

He had to try and sanitize Kodi's wounds so that he didn't have an infection to deal with on top of this.

"Poor guy, he doesn't look much older than Siku, though he is almost as big as I am. I wonder..." Mason thought as he took another sample of Kodi's scent, he examined it further...

"He has wolf blood in him... It's somewhere in there..." Mason thought for a second, he didn't know if he should be enraged that his precious wolf heritage is tainted by a dogs' or should he like this dog because he is part wolf? He went with the latter, again, for Siku's sake. He figured that if Kodi was at least part wolf then it'd be easier to accept him.

Mason sat over Kodi's body and looked for injuries that could get infected; he was surprised as he only found three. One full bite mark on his leg, his left lip partially ripped off, and one, large, and deep chest wound...

"Holy crap, that's one hell of a bite mark." He said aloud to nobody. He looked over to the dead wolf, he was destroyed. Kodi on the other hand was in much better shape, Mason was impressed already. He hesitated for a second, before bending down and began licking Kodi's arm, wetting the already dried blood, and using his saliva to kill bacteria.

"Ugh, dog blood. This won't work..." He said as he snapped his mouth, licking the blood from his teeth. It was tainted blood, dirty blood. But Mason would not be able to lick all I his wounds, it's no use. He walked over and scooped up some snow, and rubbed that on Kodi's chest and legs. Mason took a step back as Kodi flinched in pain, Mason knew that would hurt like hell, and once again felt bad for the young dog. He got more snow and placed it on Kodi's muzzle, which also wet his face. Jason realized that he was creating another problem, even though it was not exactly a blizzard they were dealing with, it was still very cold, and an unconscious body would surely fall below safe temperatures.

*sigh* "come on, I guess I should being you somewhere safe" he said, talking to the dog that would not respond.

Mason carefully locked his teeth on Kodi's back leg, and began dragging him in the direction of an old cave that Mason knew was nearby, only about half a mile south. He exited the tree line and examined the cave. This cave made painful memories pop up in his mind, he tried to shake them away, but they would not leave...

Mason's past, flashback.

Mason paced outside, very impatient with what was going on. His mate, Katja was currently in labor, giving birth to his puppies! It was one of the happiest days of his life, but also the most frustrating. He wanted to see the birth, but the pack healer suggested that he should stay outside, for it would make his mate uneasy. "Uneasy... Ha, that's a load of crap" but Mason listened and returned outside with his longtime friend, Scion.

"Dude, you've got to calm down, your pups aren't even born yet and you're already going to be exhausted!" Scion said, in an attempt to calm his frustrated friend, but failed.

"Calm down? I am calm.. Calm as a damned caribou running for his life as I jump at him and tear his damn throat out, and he falls to the ground as I tear his entire face off! CALM DOWN?" Mason yelled shaking, and then continued his pacing.

"Yes, but I see you won't, so maybe I'll join you in being "calm"" Scion said, as he got up and paced with Mason, mimicking his every move, Mason scoffed, and Scion did the same.

"Stop that" Mason snapped.

"Stop that" Scion repeated.

"Why do you have to be so childish all the god damn time..."

"Why do you-" Scion was stopped by Mason.

"Shut the hell up, my mate is in there having my kids, and I'm not there, what if something goes wrong? Oh, and I'm out here talking to some retarded wolf as I stood by and did nothing.

"If I'm retarded, that makes you friend of retard."

Mason stopped and stared at Scion for a second, but inched a smile on his face.

"I know what you're trying to do, and... Thanks."

"-and thanks." Scion finished as he copied Masons every word.

Mason smiled for a second, and playfully pushed Scion down to the ground.

"Ouch, look who's being a pup now?" Scion said as he jumped back at Mason. They played for a while before being interrupted by the pack healer.

"Mason, you might want to get in here." He had panic in his voice, and Mason froze with Scion's back leg still in his mouth. Scion tried three times to snap at him, but only on the fourth time did he strike and knocked Mason out of whatever trance he was in. Mason ignored it and quickly followed the healer back inside, he heard new sounds, beautiful sounds, coming from where Katja was lying.

"They're here..." Mason whispered to the healer.

"Mason..." The healer said, he had bad news, but decided he'd let him have his moment. "Go meet them." He finally added.

Mason nodded and slowly walked over. He looked at each and every one of them in the low light of his home, there were three, two of them were asleep, but one was playing already, without even being able to open her eyes. Mason feared up a bit at the sight.

"Honey, they're beautiful." Mason said, but Katja did not respond.

"Katja, you must be resting. Little fellas already had worn you out heh heh." Mason said as he let a single tear drop from his face. This was the happiest moment of his life, but it wouldn't stick around, unfortunately.

The healer watched silently but he died inside. He knew what was wrong, but he couldn't do that to Mason, not yet. He'd let Mason enjoy his life for now, before ruining it forever...

Mason examined them, and realized that none of then looked like him. Only the female and smallest one resembled her mother, but the other two didn't look like either parent. Mason's smile faded as he turned to the healer, who was staring at the ground in sorrow.

"I'm sorry, Mason. These puppies are not only your genes." He said with despair as he saw the magnitude of change in Masons face.

"W... What?"

"Mason, puppies from the same litter can have multiple fathers. I can confirm that the little white female, is indeed your blood, but I cannot say for the other two."

"Katja... Cheated on me?" Mason said as he looked over at her.

"I'm sorry Mason. But there is more news; it pains me to tell you this. I wanted you to enjoy your moment before I ruin your life with the news..."

"No, no. I'm still... Happy. Yeah, happy that I have a family. What news can possibly be worse than knowing that the family is not entirely yours?" Mason said with a hint of insanity at the end.

The healer did not speak, but walked over to Katja's side.

Mason followed and looked at him for a second, before placing a paw on Katja's side. Something was missing...

"And I'm afraid that she was not able to survive the birthing." The healer said, and then leaned in to comfort Mason.

"No..." All Mason could say.

"My wife... No! Wake up, Katja!" He said with tears as he tried to shake her awake.

"Katja, please... Wake up. Your pups need you... I need you." He said and didn't care to hold back his tears any longer. The healer joined him in sorrow and howled out the message, which was soon followed by the rest of the pack.

It was the death howl, one that the pack would respect and would follow. The pack harmonized in a collective bowl I sorrow and respect for their fallen pack member.

"No, why her... Why now…" Mason whispered as he nuzzled his dead mate for a while before seemingly manning up and gained the confidence to speak. He could hear the smallest one, the white female, yipping already.

"You're so strong-willed already…" He froze for a second, as tears of happiness joined tears of sorrow.

"Siku." He continued softly.

"It's the name Katja had planned to name her first born daughter." His voice was unstable, varying in pitch as he was emotionally broken down at the loss of his mate. But he straightened up and spoke, not to the healer, more, to himself and for Katja's sake.

"I don't care if these puppies are not my blood, they are my mates' puppies at least, and I will raise them like they were mine."

"Mason, the female is yours. I'm sure of it."

"That's why I named it; I won't name the other two just yet..." Mason said with a slight ending of spite.

"Mason, you don't have to take the other two in, they would not be your kids, it wouldn't be right. I do not know who it was, as I don't recognize the scent, but I'm sure there will be wolves who would adopt them."

"Very well. I don't want to admit it, but I do not feel like they are my children." As Mason said this, he shook his head, cursing himself for saying such a terrible thing.

"I understand. I'd suggest that we scheduled Katja's burial soon, I'm sorry to be so blunt, but it is tradition." The healer explained.

"Just... Give me a moment... Please..."

"Of course Mason." The healer said, and patted him on the back softly before walking out of the cave.

Mason waited until he walked out before he spoke to his late wife.

"Katja, I don't know why you would break my heart like you did, but I can't be mad at you. I love you so much; I only wished that I could have said it more. I don't know if I can take care of the puppies that are not mine, but Siku is my daughter, I love her as much as I love you... She looks like you at least, and I will always see you in her. Take care... My beauty." Mason said as he nuzzled her lifeless body a bit more. He cried for a few minutes, not stopping when Scion and the healer walked in. The healer left again to leave Mason his privacy, but Scion did not. He walked over to Mason's side and comforted him.

"God it hurts so much, I feel like I've been literally injured." Mason said between his cries.

"I know man, I know. Just let it all out." Scion said as he nuzzled his friend to comfort him.

Mason was still crying, but he paused for a few seconds, and when Scion caught onto this he stared back down at Mason. There was silence for about 20 seconds more.

"You don't" Mason said quietly.

"What was that?" Scion asked with a smile.

"You don't know how it is to know that your wife won't live to see her own children; you don't know how it is to learn that two of them aren't even yours. That the love of your life betrayed you long before she died!" Mason said, seemingly turning his sadness into anger.

Scion was a great friend, so he knew how to deal with it.

"Your right, I don't know anything, I'm retarded, remember?" He said, inching a smile to cheer Mason up.

"God damnit Scion, just leave me alone please." Mason said harshly, though he did know, and appreciated what he was doing.

"I'm not leaving you man, you need me here more than you think." Scion said as he placed a paw on Masons shoulder. Mason looked at him for a second, but couldn't avoid his face twisting, wanting to cry more, and turned back to bury is face into Katja's fur and fought it off. Scion stroked Mason's back for a while, and admired the puppies. Two of them were sleeping, but the tiny white one was not still, she was only a few hours old, but already she tried exploring her surroundings.

"Wow. This pup is defiantly you, Mason."

"Siku." Mason said as he paused crying and looked at Siku with Scion.

"That's a beautiful name. It means ice, right?"

"Yeah, Katja always said that she loved that name for one of her children."

"What are you going to do?"

"What do you think? I'm going to raise her myself, she is my daughter and I love her more than anything." Mason proudly explained, he didn't even show sadness in his words, though he was still broken down.

"And what of the other two?" Scion asked with curiosity.

"What of them? If I can't find their father, I'd raise them too. They are still Katja's blood, and I will love them the same.

Mason

Mason brought Kodi to a stop inside the cave, and pushed over a pile of snow to make some type of shield around him. They got inside safely just in time for it to start raining. Mason checked on Kodi and figured that he didn't have a fever, and that his wounds were no longer at risk. All he needed now was a good few hours of rest, and he'll wake up... With a lot of pain, but he'd be alive.

Mason walked over to the edge of where the rain formed a waterfall at the mouth if the cave, and snapped his muzzle into the rain to get a bit to drink. It felt great; the storm was accompanied by warmer air, a good transition from the blizzard that just blew through here two nights ago. The thunder was calming; it rattled the cave and helped Mason put his thoughts behind him. He looked out into the distance, visibility crippled by the torrential downpour. This was no ordinary storm, if this occurred in the lower Atlantic, or pacific, it'd probably be classified as a category two hurricane, or a tropical storm at the very least. Strong winds broke through a flowed into the cave, spraying cool water everywhere in side. Mason simply shook it off, it was no longer freezing, probably around 60 degrees, so the rain did not bother him at all. It did, on the other-hand affect Kodi...

Kodi, first person.

AAAAAH CRAP, ~the&&&& pain #preventing me -thinking straight {{null}} OwWhh, this needs to ACK*^^ switch! Do it NOW!

Kodi. Recovery.

Mason did not notice that the rain worked to awaken Kodi, and continued starring out into the distance. The storm got louder, dropping even more rain and spat out continuous thunder that was matched with Lightning. Kodi looked around without moving, he was in an incredible amount of pain, his chest causing a pulse of new pain to wash over the old with every heartbeat. It was like torture. His leg had an open bite mark, and half of his left lip was gone, but it didn't match in pain to having his skin ripped off of his chest. He held back a scream of pain, and it brought tears to his eyes.

"Aahgh gaaawd!" Kodi failed to hold back. Mason instantly tuned to look.

Mason walked over to Kodi, but he couldn't see him approach, he could not turn his head to face him.

"Hey uh, don't worry I am here to help." Mason said awkwardly

"Awwwgh! Stay back!"

"It's not like you have any say in this..." Mason said, unable to hide his hostility.

Kodi did not reply, his body was cringing and snapping around in pain, and for the next five minutes he made nothing but hollers in pain. Mason could not do anything but watch the poor dog.

"Kodiak." Mason finally said.

"You know my name?" Kodi said, half yelling in pain.

"Yes, Siku will be back with help soon, for now, is there anything I can do to ease your suffering?" Mason said, not really knowing what to do.

"Ack* what can you do?"

"I don't know; get you some water, some snow or something." Mason realized that there really was nothing he could do.

"Where is Siku, is she safe?" Kodi said, he was in tremendous pain, but he hid it well when he asked.

"She left about an hour ago to get help for you. She didn't seem to have any injuries at all." Mason noticed how Kodi held back his pain and fought it off as he spoke, and knew that it required a very powerful will, and he thought about the fact that Kodi might not be all that bad, so Mason would allow Kodi to build on him.

"Oaky good, uh, I'm burning up, I could use some snow or something please!" Kodi said, his pain making it hard to talk, and it came out as a low shout. Mason looked around for a second and noticed something; Kodi was lying in a shallow bowl like depression of the cave. He walked over to the snow barrier and broke it, the ice cold water and snow that was trapped, flowed in and filled it to about three inches. Kodi yelled out in pain as the cool water came into contact with his open wound.

"That's not what I meant!" Kodi said, but the pain actually seemed to start to fade. The freezing water cleansed his chest wound and helped or to heal.

"Oh, wow thanks." Kodi said softer and started drinking some of the water, realizing that he was a bit dehydrated.

Mason watched with a smile, and wondered if he should tell Kodi that he was the father of the girl Kodi loved. He shook his head with a "no" and thought about something else.

Kodi caught onto this and thought for a few seconds, before realizing his manners.

"Sir, I guess we haven't properly met. You can just call me Kodi." He said as he outstretched his arm that didn't have a huge hole in the top of it.

"Mason, nice to meet you Kodi. I am a friend of Siku's." He lied, not only to Kodi though. He didn't know why he decided not to tell Kodi that she was his daughter, he figured that if Kodi were to get caught by the wolves, he could just play it off like he didn't know who he was, and hopefully save himself and his daughter. The punishment he'd receive for helping a dog would surely see an attack on him, his family, and Siku…

He shook away the thoughts, and hoped it wouldn't have to come to that. He really did want to see this dog returned safely and keep his promise to his only daughter.

"Hey, I'm a bit hungry, want to go out for a hunt?" He asked jokingly.

"I'd love to, but I don't think I can move..." Kodi replied as he let out another whimper of pain.

"I thought so; I'll be back in a bit, rabbit sound good?"

"Sure, anything you're willing to give me, I'd be grateful" Kodi replied.

"I'll see what I can find; you need to eat if you want to recover." Mason said as he walked out. He noted Kodi's manners and thought for a second that Siku made a good choice.

As Mason disappeared behind the wall of rain at the mouth of the cave, Kodi began to think about things, his pain finally subsided a bit, it still hurt like hell, but it wasn't too bad now. He thought about if his mom was safe, if his dad had even woken up yet, and how the town was preparing for the inevitable… Then, last but not least, he thought about Siku. Her beautiful smile was the last image of her, even though he could not remember when, since his last memories of her were of sadness and crying. He did remember her words; they stuck with him forever when he lost consciousness.

"Kodi, Kodi? Kodi, I love you, always remember that." He replayed them in his mind. He felt his cheek grow warm and felt a little embarrassed even though nobody was around to see it. Siku loved him, just like he loved her. His pain seemed to get further away, replaced by the thoughts of happiness. Then he remembered what she said after.

"Please don't leave me… I need you to be alive; I need you by my side…" Kodi's smile dimmed a bit, he failed Siku, he had left her alone… While his stupid body failed to do what he wanted, and shut down from a simple wound. Kodi growled in frustration, what if something happened to Siku before she got home? What if Home wasn't safe… No matter where Siku was, she was not safe unless she was by his side. Kodi tried to stand up, at least look outside and try to tell where he was, but amazingly, he could stand just fine. Though the wolf did bite deep into his right front leg, it barely affected him, as it seemed to have healed already. Kodi noticed another thing, the pain in his wound was still shrinking, he looked down at it, and noticed that it seemed to have started to scab over already.

The cut actually did not look that big, it was just that the wolf nicked a major vein, and luckily, was not a major artery, or Kodi would probably not be alive right now. That is why he lost so much blood. But… he didn't feel light-headed like he should have. Everyone knows that if you lose a lot of blood, to the point where you black out due to the lack of Oxygen reaching your very brain, that you should feel light-headed for a few days later. Kodi, on the other hand, felt great, like he could have joined Mason on his hunt, but he wouldn't push himself, after all, he might just be in shock, which is why he didn't feel much pain. After a while of thinking, he smiled, and realized who was helping him.

"Thanks Aniu." He said aloud to nobody.

"You're welcome, my son." Aniu replied almost instantly.

Kodi jumped as he heard a voice, it was beautiful and smooth, like an angel. He had never heard Aniu speak before, and her calling him "my son" just made it a bit more confusing. He looked around for a bit, and sniffed at the air, just in-case. Nobody was around; it really was the white wolf spirit who spoke to him just then, or was it even out loud? When Kodi thought about it further, the voice did sound like it came from his very mind.

He walked to the edge of the cave, and looked into the distance. It was now dark; the clouds covered the sky for as far down the horizon he could see from this cave, which was about 40 feet from the normal ground level.

"Siku… I hope you're safe." All Kodi could offer as his smile faded away. He had no idea where he was…

Nehalem, The Address.

Nehalem closed his eyes as he stood upon his perch, one that made him 20 feet above the all others. He overlooked the entire area, to the forest line, to the den, and to the prisoner. All of his followers sat still and had all eyes locked onto him, awaiting his very next word that would become law. Nehalem had his plans worked out, and was preparing phase 3 of the master plan. Over-all, everything was simple. Kill any and all Humans and Dogs living in Nome, But Nome wasn't a normal defenseless settlement that the pack has gotten used to dealing with. They had guns, 4 sheriffs, telegraphs, and even a few planes. The town of about 680 people and little over 60 dogs also had a canine government; one that was ruled by a Newfoundland/Mastiff dog named Doc. Nehalem knew that this dog was leader of the canine population of the town, and that he now knew of his plans. All because of one wolf/dog hybrid by the name of Balto.

"Balto…" Nehalem said under his breath. He hated the wolf/dog even more now. Not only was he the spawn of Aniu, whom to Nehalem, was a bitch that should have no power over the spirit world, but Balto was also the perfect hybrid that nearly drove Nehalem insane at the thought. A dirty mix breed of his own precious bloodline, and tainted with the disgusting genetics of the simple house dog. Nehalem's rage built up now at the mere thought of the wolf/dog.

"It has come to my attention that a certain wolf dog and his little friends have gotten word of our arrival. How? Well he has been warned! Warned by none other than the one they call Aniu. The White Wolf spirit is helping them recover, and warn them through their dreams."

The crowd erupted in anger as Nehalem paced back and forth, watching them with a smile.

"That bitch will learn not to mess with our ways once her little pup Balto dies at my hands!"

Before Nehalem even got to finish his sentence, a strong gust of wind broke through the tree line, knocking leaves and branches off. The members of the pack were knocked off of their feet, and Nehalem, who was not exactly in the safest place to prepare for such event, was thrown off his high-perch and fell 20 feet to the ground, hitting it hard. Instantly, the pack crowded around him and two of them stepped beyond them and helped Nehalem to his feet.

Drakken and Scion watched Nehalem, as he got up and started laughing. His nose was bruised, and blood came from his mouth, but he didn't seem to be bothered by it, and instead continued his maniacal laughter.

"The white wolf and her tricks! You see? She chooses to attack me where I am weakest, and she is nowhere to be found."

There was silence for a few seconds, as if everyone knew that he would get a reply. And they were proven correct.

An eerie, but angelic voice seemed to resonate throughout the trees and vibrated into the ground, aimed at the center of the pack.

"If that is what you are to believe, Nehalem"

The pack continued silence, and a green light in the sky got their attention. All staring, Nehalem, Drakken and Scion stunned by it. Everyone watched as the small green dot slowly inched its way down and closer to the ground.

Before anyone could speak, another gust of wind blew past them, and seemed to form a figure when it touched the green dot. This mysterious figure of white began to run around in front of the crowd, circling Nehalem and the other two. Out of nowhere, booming laughter came from the heavens above, and a bolt of lightning struck the white figure. With the explosion, the white figure transformed into a huge, and powerful white wolf.

The white wolf continued in the same direction it was going in, and then spiraled its way towards Nehalem, striking him with full force, sending him into the wall of the cliff.

**(Note, the transformation scene was painful to write, imagine something appearing in your mind so amazingly badass, but then when you type it out… It's like this.)**

The pack could not react fast enough, but they eventually caught on and jumped in at the white wolf, but they hit nothing, and most of them simply ran into a wall. The white wolf had vanished, but the figure continued circling the treeline at super-speeds. It headed towards Nehalem again, and with a deep growl, it transformed back into a wolf and like a train, prepared to strike him again. But Nehalem wasn't going to sit there and take it.

In an instant, Nehalem jumped up and dodged the white wolf, sending him crashing head first into the wall, but nothing hit, and it simply transformed back into a spirit.

"Fight like the dirty little bitch you are! Coward!" Nehalem yelled to the spirit, which was once again making its rounds along the treeline, and came in for another hit. Only this time, it came to a stop in front of Nehalem. Nobody moved, as this wolf really looked intimidating. It paused in front of Nehalem, huge 4 inch canines stuck out of its mouth and muzzle crinkled and pulled back to allow them to show their full glory. The rest of this wolf resembled an ordinary white wolf, but much larger, towering a whole three feet above Nehalem. It's paws alone were larger than his head.

Nehalem smiled, but deep down, nobody could deny genuine fear. Nehalem had never seen Aniu before, so to him, he thought Aniu was someone he could defeat. This giant wolf, nearly two times bigger than him, and didn't even seem physically, or biologically possible to exist, would be suicide to try and pick a fight with. But Nehalem was either Stupid, or very smart, as he chose his next words.

"Aniu. Come to visit, I see?" Nehalem said calmly.

The white wolf did not speak.

"Oh come on; at least have some manners… God knows you taught your little Balto how to beg for mercy like a good boy." Nehalem teased with a smile. At this point, the entire pack had already backed up ten meters, and Nehalem's side-wolves, Drakken and Scion stared at the deranged wolf. They knew he was crazy, but this was a little too much. This wolf could tear the entire pack to pieces, and here Nehalem was, teasing it.

The white wolf continued its death stare into Nehalem, dark eyes with Yellow pupils, enraged as she stared at the three in front of her.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Are we just going to stare at each other all day? I guess I should start by saying you aren't that hard to look at; I mean I'd bang a wolf twice my size if she was as sexy as you were." Nehalem Said.

"Nehalem… what are you doing?" Scion whispered in his ear.

Nehalem didn't respond, but instead took a snap at Scion, scaring Scion into falling on his back.

Nehalem turned back to the White Wolf, and matched its stare, but when he did this he realized that he had made a huge mistake. His eyes glowed yellow and he was momentarily paralyzed by the white wolf. Aniu had gotten what she wanted from him, and released.

Nehalem fell to the floor, and before anyone could react, the sky shot down another bolt of lightning and hit the White wolf, and in an instant, she vanished, with only a small cloud of dust where the wolf stood. One of them slowly walked up to the spot, and tried his best to sample the air, but it was like the wolf never existed.

"What the hell was that all about?" Scion asked to Drakken.

"I have no idea, was that really Aniu? I thought it was just a myth…" Drakken replied.

"That was not Aniu..." Nehalem said as he regained his breath and tried to stand.

Both walked to Nehalem and tried to help him up. All Nehalem did was growl and snap at the two who were just trying to help him. Drakken whimpered and jumped back, and then Scion did the same.

Nehalem breathed deeply for a few seconds, and then turned to the crowd.

"Change of plans… We're invading Nome tomorrow morning." He said angrily, and as the pack cheered, he walked off to his den to recover from the mind-attack…

* * *

**Chapter cut again, which means chapter eight isn't too far away.**


	8. Jenna, Steele and Balto

**I really took my sweet-ass time working on this one, huh?**

* * *

Siku, the spirit world.

At this point, Siku had no idea where she was running. She growled at herself in anger; wolves were supposed to be expert navigators, and she was sure that if town was within a hundred miles, then she should be able to know where it was. Ahead of her was a large river, Siku could smell it as she closed the gap at the full speed her legs could carry her.

"_A river… I could sample the water and figure out the source, and hopefully, l'll recognize it, and know where the river leads to." _Siku thought. She smiled and ran a bit faster, but when she broke the treeline, there was no river bank...

Just a cliff.

Instinctively, she slammed down her paws to try and stop, but like any experienced driver would tell you, this was never a good idea. Siku panicked as she lost all traction and was no longer able to stop herself, she was sliding fast through the snow. Just ten feet from a fifty foot drop. She was still going pretty fast, and tripped, turning her uncontrollable skid, into an uncontrollable tumble as the last few seconds she closed her eyes. Her body flew off the side of the cliff, with nothing but gravity acting upon her, pulling her tiny body towards the ground below.

Aniu, supernatural first person.

My creations, either wolven, or dog, and anything in-between, are all my children… All I've got to show for, but one single pack of them has chosen to ignore my teachings and follow my good friend Amarok instead. I felt bad for Nehalem, for he was greatly mistaken. Amarok did not wish death on anyone who did not disobey his only rule:

Do not kill without just reason.

Amarok is my own creation, a god child born into the spirit world to watch over human hunters, to help those who needed it. Amarok was allowed to make his own decisions, and I have made his word law. Humans could hunt as long as they used what they killed for food, warmth, or in self-defense. Anything else, like the dreaded sport known as fox hunting, or hunting wolves just for the fun of hunting wolves, was deeply frowned upon, and Amarok usually had to alter their minds. Over the years, humans have gotten smarter now, and it's getting nearly impossible to manipulate their actions. Amarok grew frustrated with this, and began to alter the minds of my children. I could not take hold over Amarok, for I have granted his word law. Amarok had begun to grow out of control, and started altering wolves' minds to kill hunters who were foolish enough to hunt alone at night.

I turned my attention now, to Steele. The dog has changed his ways, and I've considered giving him a permanent place in the spirit world when the time comes. I found him at the end of a valley, which led to a chasm nearly 500 feet deep. I watched as the poor dog struggled to stop, not knowing yet the abilities that I have taught him and the gift I have given him. I could only watch, unable to help, but I began to smile as he did remember my words. I heard him repeat the words as they seemed to register into my mind, and granted him access to the spirit world. I did not stick around, for I have heard my calling elsewhere.

It's been about two hours now, I had helped my true son, Balto, recover from his injuries in his sleep, and helped my grandson, Kodiak the same. They were fighting the good fight, and they needed my help as much as I needed theirs, for I could not directly manipulate the real world like Amarok could. All I could do was repair the physical forms of whom I chose, at the cost of my own blood, and a sacrifice...

My physical form is long gone, so I had to pay with a sacrifice. The only fair thing to do was to take life from the very beings I was helping. For Kodi, I had to take a moment from his life; a crucial moment, one that could affect his future with Siku. How significant, I could not say. As for Balto, he would forget his next anniversary. It pained me to take these moments, but that was the sacrifice I had to make, and it was what it took to keep the spirit world in balance with reality. The more significant the moment taken, the more I could help them now, in their time of need.

I felt the ground around me begin to shake lightly, and the sky began to turn a darker shade of purple, rather than the pale blue it usually was.

A disturbance in the spirit world often indicated sites of deep hatred and evil. I sighed as I knew exactly where this was coming from. With a blink of an eye, I brought my spirit form to the crowd of wolves that circled Nehalem. I had watched Nehalem often now, hiding among his own loyal pack. I could not do anything to him; I could not fight his actions, even when he went as far as to kill the innocent Rosie and her family, and Serif, not to mention kidnapping the mate of my true son. I loved all of children the same, but Nehalem was breaking even my barrier. I did not wish to fight him; though I could easily wipe out the entire pack if I wanted to, but something like that would disrupt the spirit world so much, that it would collapse on itself and its inhabitants would fall to the real world, where they would die, then disappear instantly. Such a horrible fate.

I listened to Nehalem; he started talking about more of his plan to "eradicate" the town of Nome, and then talked about killing Balto. I could not hold back anymore, no longer would my spirit form be limited to just watching, with a crinkle of my muzzle, I had asked the spirits to assist me, and they answered by doing what they do best, and shot gale-force winds into the pack, knocking everyone down, including Nehalem, who suffered a much harder fall. I closed my eyes in repent, but I was forgiven. I looked into the realm and figured that the spirit world did not seem to be affected. Perhaps I could do more to stop Nehalem… If only I had a physical form...

I snapped my head to the left; someone was in trouble a few miles north of here. The little wolf pup named Siku. With the blink of my eyes, I was on the edge of a cliff, and watched Siku just in time to see her fly off, and over the edge. There it was, the spirit world would accept her for passage, and I would have my physical form. I recited my own code for Siku – the same code that Steele used –, and with a flash, Siku has now joined me in the spirit world.

Siku, first person.

This was it, I was falling to my death, I had failed Kodi, I had failed everyone... I closed my eyes, preparing for impact, but something was wrong. I was no longer falling; instead, I think... It was just a dream. I looked around to see where I was at, and when I looked down I panicked. I was floating about twenty feet above where I almost fell off the edge. I could see the bottom, no river down there… Just flat rocky ground that would have easily been my death spot. What was this? I was just here, floating... I figured I'd try and move, but I didn't want to risk falling. I didn't have to wait long, a flash of white changed my view, and I found myself in the last place on earth I wanted to be at.

Right before Nehalem himself, at his den, as he addressed his pack.

I panicked again, and tried to sneak away, hoping nobody saw me, but in my impatience, I seemed to have stupidly forgotten that I had four paws, tripped and then fell into another wolf that sat next to me. Nothing hit, I simply fell _through_ him!

"What is this?" I asked quietly, nothing like this was exactly a surprise to me though; I've been I the spirit world, and experienced passing through objects before.

"I have brought you to me in a time of need." I heard a familiar voice say to me from behind.

"Aniu! How have you been? Thank you for saving my life."

"No worries, my child." She replied in her same, angelic voice.

I walked over to hug her; it's been months since I've seen her in my dreams and if anything, she was pretty much the mother I've never had. She hugged me back, but I could feel the tension in her as she ignored me and focused her head towards Nehalem. Something was not right, and it obviously had something to do with where we were at right now. I watched as Nehalem stood and shook his head.

"The white bitch and her tricks! You see? She chooses to attack me where I am weakest, and she is nowhere to be found."

That simple comment turned my rage into overdrive, and I wanted to charge at that asshole. How dare he refer to Aniu in such a matter... I looked to Aniu, and she smiled back, supposedly reading my thoughts. She had a plan, and she set it forth, amazingly, it seemed like she slowed down time, everything was moving sluggish, like a clock winding down with its last energy. Nehalem continued to say something, but his mouth moved in slow motion. I watched in a trance as a wolf a few feet away from me crunched up and began to scratch his left ear in a slower motion, only contacting his paw to his ear once every 5 seconds. I turned and looked at the trees that once flowed crazily through the wind, now seemed to flow with much more grace and fluid. Once more, I turned and watched as Nehalem walked along the cliff face to return to his high-perch. Each 8-second long stride it took was matched with his coat, the color of death, as it bobbed and turned slightly with each step. I could also note the dirt that flew from his paws and slowly fell to the ground.

Aniu seemed to let me enjoy the trance I was in for a while, before finally speaking.

"Siku, you must do what I cannot. Face Nehalem in the real world. I will assist in what I can." She said with a smile.

I felt my body start to rumble, and from my head to my paws there was a constant tingling sensation. I felt my body begin to stretch and generate new matter as lines of white light striped my body from top to bottom. My tail was first to transform, it grew twice longer, and already felt much sturdier, like I could use it to kill someone if I hit them hard enough with it. Then the rest of my body started changing. I felt everything from my muzzle, to my hind legs begin to grow with incredible speeds. Apart from growing nearly _four_ times taller, I had developed long, razor sharp fangs. I looked down at my paws and noted how far away I was above the ground now; they were also three times larger. Even my ears felt noticeably heavier, as did my much thicker coat of insulating fur enclosing my body.

"Aniu, what are you doing?" But I did not get an answer, for she had vanished. A voice echoed over the spirit world, and resonated through into the real world.

"If that is what you are to believe, Nehalem." I said... Wait, I said that? It took me a bit to realize that, while it felt like 10 minutes to us, in the real world, Aniu was replying to Nehalem's previous statement that was said not 20 seconds ago.

"Aniu?" But my mouth did not move, I was no longer in control of my body. Aniu had borrowed my physical form, and I happily allowed for it.

"_Be careful with my body now." _I joked in my mind. But Aniu was already reciting something using my own voice.

"I ask for the aid of the traveler spirits, those in charge of aiding sailors across long unforgiving seas. Take this physical form, and allow it to be returned without me. I call for an escort into the real world. Siku and her new form are no longer in need of my aid. Free our spirit, and allow passage into the physical world." I heard her pray to the spirits. I caught on to her little lie, that I no longer needed her aid, as she was the one controlling my body! I figured that the spirits probably would not aid her in altering the physical world, so I went along with it.

_"Man, how could the spirits be so blind?"_ I thought jokingly, and it appears that Aniu read my thoughts because she laughed softly in response. I made a note not to think about wrong things, and yet again, Aniu caught that.

Aniu's plead was answered, and before us, a green light spawned in and was slowly settling down to meet with the earth.

"That's our ride, Siku. Mind if I drive?" Aniu asked nicely.

"Sure, Shotgun!" I joked. And Aniu laughed, but not at my joke, her laugh turned demonic with rage. I felt my body start to move now, so huge, I felt like I would not be able to walk on my own, as I was not used to controlling such a massive body. I started running now, and noted the huge strides I took compared to how I used to run. My front paws reached far beyond me, and my back legs stretched back. Each nine foot stride I took, met the snow in a loud crunch, continuing in slow motion, I ran around the pack, circling Nehalem, and felt a new gust of wind hit me from behind, seemingly pushing me to meet the green dot. I felt my body lift, and with a slight shock, I was starting to take hold into the physical world. Aniu's demonic laughter broke free now, and boomed from the heavens above.

"I pray to the high spirits, the lesser of evils, one who controls the systems that bring water to life on earth." I hear Aniu pray from inside of my mind. And instantly, her demonic laughing was broken by a bolt of lightning that struck my body! I flinched, expecting to fry alive and die right there, instead, my body pressed on. The world returned to normal speed as I began shoveling snow and dirt behind me. Each paw hitting the ground and digging into it, propelling me forward with tremendous power, and I was aimed at Nehalem...

I watched with laughter as the pathetic wolf slammed into the wall and hit his head pretty hard. In an instant, my body disintegrated again, just in time to miss a full on collision with a stone wall, but back in the spirit world we entered, and once again, I rounded the treeline with amazing speeds, and circled around the whole den. I started running towards Nehalem again at full speed and with a small spark of transformation; I once again entered the physical world and was bolting at Nehalem. I did this a third time, but at the last second, my body froze. Aniu dropped control of my body, and seemed to leave me.

"I cannot…" Aniu said, and released my body, then took form on the other side of me, but she was not with me in the physical world, she had stayed behind in the spirit world.

I understood her. She really wanted this wolf dead, but she could not do it herself, for it was a great violation of both, her moral code, and the laws of the spirit world. I wanted to help, and I knew what I had to do… I knew what _someone_ had to do…

Even though I had this new massive body many times stronger and many times everything else, of my old body, I still felt naked, and scared in front of the entire pack of killers.

I had expected to fall down, not being used to carrying such a huge body. But instead, found that I could stand just fine. As I realized that I had now re-gained control of my new body, I instinctively pulled my lips back, arming my newfound four inch fangs. I stood there, staring down Nehalem. I was blinded by rage, not really knowing why. I figured some of Aniu was left in my body, and that my desire to kill this wolf and the entire pack stemmed from it. I didn't care though, because I really did want to kill this asshole for what he did. But here I was, standing, doing absolutely nothing. It took me a second to realize that Nehalem had spoken to me three times and has gone without an answer.

"_Come on, let me kill him already_!" I screamed to Aniu in my mind, but she did not respond. I couldn't do it, though this body would have easily torn the wolf in half. But I could not attack, Aniu did not bring me to the physical world for that reason, and I knew what I had to do. I kept my stance, never hiding my teeth, and sustaining my low pitched, thunder like, growl. I watched without moving, as Nehalem snapped at his friend for attempting to reason with him.

"_Smart move_" I said in my mind.

"You know what has to be done." Aniu replied instantly.

I ceased the moment of Nehalem's distraction, and engaged in a stare into his eyes. Everything around me turned yellow, and I looked into him... No, I looked into his thoughts, and took what I needed. I had taken information telepathically, and as confused as I was, Aniu seemed to have a smile on her face, which told me that I had done the right thing.

"Good" Aniu said, and with a split second, I watched Nehalem fall to the ground, just before another bolt of lightning struck my back and relinquished me of this world, and with it, my body returned to normal.

"Aw..." I said

"Hmm, you do not need physical strength to defeat your enemies. You've done well with your own body and mind, why would you need such a change?" Aniu replied.

"I know, but it would have been cool to have such a massive and strong body to beat people up with." I joked, and after reading her serious face, I made a bit more of an effort to show that it was a joke.

Aniu didn't reply but she only smiled at me.

"Your time in the spirit world has come to an end. We shall meet again, my child." Aniu told me, and with a flash of white, I found myself lying on the ground, at the base of the cliff that I should have been nothing but a dead splat on.

I got up and shook my head, wondering if any of that really happened, or did I just fall, somehow survived, and all of that was just the result of some kind of head injury.

Aniu answered my question with a green dot that shot up towards the sky, and bolted off instantly in the direction of Nome.

"Thanks for showing me the way." I said to nobody.

I ran off in the now known direction of Nome, determined to get home to warn the others of the upcoming attack, and get help for Kodi.

I carried on, running quickly through the woods; I only wished I had the ability to run super speed, like Steele. Speaking of Steele… I turned just in time to see him about to crash into me.

Steele and Jenna.

"Don't tell me you're lost... You seemed so sure of where you were going!" Jenna screamed, though the forest did seem familiar, it was disorienting, as everything looked the same no matter which direction they went. Little did they know, they were still only within five miles of where they came from.

They were traveling in a massive circle.

"I know where I'm going!" Steele snapped back, instantly registering it as a carbon copy of his same reply to when Star asked him that a week ago when he was lost again.

"I'm sorry." Steele apologized, and to Jenna, it seemed unwarranted.

"You? Sorry?" Jenna asked curiously, speech stammered as Steele jumped around at fifty miles an hour.

Steele stayed quiet, sniffing at the air, jumping almost ten feet over a fallen tree, and nearly crashed into another in the process. Jenna sensed his frustration and figured she wouldn't question him again for a bit.

"This is useless; the blizzard stripped away any kind of hints to where Nome is, scents and all." Steele said as he slowed to a stop. He bowed down to allow Jenna to safely fall off of his back. She tried herself to sniff at the air and ground to hopefully pick up a sign of which direction Nome was.

Steele watched her for a bit, he thought about how beautiful Jenna looked in the weak sunlight, but instantly hated himself for thinking that way.

"_Like it or not, she is Balto's mate. Not like I deserve such an honor anyway._" Steele thought.

"Steele, you want to explain now, we've ran twice as fast as any dog or wolf, and you don't even look tired! Plus, didn't you almost die just three days ago?" Jenna asked, but continued to focus her nose on any scents she could pick up, desperately trying to find home.

"It's a long story, well… I guess it isn't. A lot could be left out." Steele said.

Jenna turned to him now and listened as he tried to gain her trust by saying that he has changed his ways, and thanks to Aniu, he has been granted such powers, as long as he used them for good, and to aid the spirit world.

"I knew there was something a bit off. I'm glad you've decided to help." Jenna said with a smile. Steele awkwardly smiled and looked away.

"So you recovered in three days, what would have taken weeks or months... You can run and jump very well, and you apparently have excellent tracking skills." She smiled at the end. "What else can you do?"

"Not much, other than what you've seen. I can gain passage to the spirit world and..." As much as he scolded himself for being so stupid, Jenna stated at him blankly with a "you've of to be kidding me" sort of look.

"Yeah... Probably should have mentioned that an hour ago." Steele said as he turned from Jenna and began to mutter words inaudible to even Jenna's acute sense of hearing.

"I seek aid from the traveler spirits…" Steele sighed and turned his head. "Show me the way home…" Steele said in a calm voice, more to Jenna. A silent whisper was all that was required.

"Steele what are you saying..." Before she finished her words, his plead was answered, and the spirit world helped by spawning a green dot before them. Steele smiled at Jenna as they both stared at the spirits that would guide them home. The green dot rose a few feet into the air, and then shot quickly towards Nome, which - not exactly surprising to Jenna - was almost in the opposite direction that they were going.

Steele smiled and awkwardly laughed at Jenna as he began to walk in the direction of Nome.

After Jenna turned down Steele's offer to continue carrying her, they ran off side by side, but even while running, Steele couldn't ignore Jenna's obvious depression. She had lost her girl and her family. He thought about what, or even if, he should say, but nothing came up. He didn't exactly have experience "caring" about anyone but himself.

"_I've got to say something. How do you comfort someone that has lost everything in her life?" _Steele thought._ "But she has not lost everything… She still has Balto."_ Steele smiled as he found a viable subject to talk about and hopefully get her mind off of depressive thoughts.

He continued thinking about what to say as they came across a good marker; it was the same river that everyone knows, Snake River. Steele and Jenna slowed down their pace to a walk along the river. Jenna went up and lapped up some water, and Steele did the same.

"Oh man that's refreshing…" Jenna said under her breath.

"I didn't realize how dehydrated I was." Jenna said to Steele, who smiled and nodded in agreement.

Steele wanted to talk, he knew what to talk about, and figured he'd just go ahead and say something.

"So Balto, eh?" Steele said, so full of awkwardness, he barely finished his statement.

"What about him?" Jenna replied, surprised by the random question.

"Everything I've told you, I've told Balto, and I like to think that we're getting along now." Steele explained.

"That's great, how many times have you guys nearly killed each other over the years..." Jenna said with slight annoyance.

"That's all set in the past; I'd never be able to make up for so many years fighting him."

"Wow you're so weird now..." Jenna replied.

Steele smiled and watched looked down ground below him.

"Yeah, well."

"We were going to come and check on you, Balto didn't even care that he could barely stand. He was determined to make sure you were okay, even if he had to crawl to the vet's office." Steele added.

"Sounds like him. I just know he's beating himself up for... What happened…"

Steele noted the obvious change in Jenna's voice.

"I'm sorry, Jenna." Steele said.

"For what?"

"I could have done something... Me and Kaltag were just sitting on our lazy asses… Talking in the vet for who knows how long. If only I knew. We… I could have come to protect you, to protect Rosie." Steele said as he lowered his head.

"I didn't know you we're even there last night. I fell just in time to see Balto tear apart that... Bastard." Jenna said. Steele smiled as he knew Jenna probably has never cursed before in her life.

"Yeah, well, you can believe me when I say I know how well of a fighter Balto is. More times than I'd like to admit, I only won in our battles because I had backup. I probably wouldn't have stood a chance against him alone..." Steele said.

"Wow, it seems almost unreal to hear you like this. You complimented Balto, what's next, pigs flying?" Jenna joked.

"Yeah, well anyway, Balto and your son got back from the mail run in the middle of the night. I'm sure it was Aniu who tipped them off. The reason Balto couldn't walk, was because him and Kodi, along with everyone else, ran themselves crazy trying, desperately to safe Rosie. Kodi had nowhere to stay, so I brought the team to my house." Steele explained, he knew she'd be curious as to what happened to her son.

"Thanks, I don't know where Kodi and I are going to stay now... I mean, I wouldn't mind living with Balto and Boris..." Jenna stopped, on the verge of crying again at the loss of here family that raised her from birth.

"Let's not think about that for now. If anything, my door is always open." Steele said in a calm voice.

Jenna did not talk; she blinked a few times trying to dry her tears. Steele didn't know what to do, so he just focused on his feet. The walk was slow along the river that would eventually lead to Nome. Even though it was another 5 miles or so until Snake River would empty into the Norton Sound, and Nome was a good 3 more miles east of that.

**(Obviously I looked up a lot about the geography around Nome lol)**

Steele froze in his tracks, staring ahead, Jenna wondered why for a split second, but she would find out right away. Ahead of them, blocking their path along the river, was a group of wolves from Nehalem's pack. They were on their way to return to the pack after a successful hunt.

"Dogs! Go after them!" the leader yelled. As Jenna and Steele broke past a treeline into an open area, that was closed off by a line of wolves...

Before he finished his command, all seven from his group ran after Jenna and Steele. Any one of these - to an extent, mutated - wolves could easily catch Jenna in her fastest speed, and admittedly, so could they catch Steele running at his full speed prior to Aniu, help.

"Do I have to ask?" Steele said as he bowed down, and quickly, Jenna jumped on him and wrapped around his neck. With a few seconds of Steele staring the wolves down with a smile, he quickly turned and sprinted off the other way. Within just thirty seconds, all that reminded them of the wolves chasing them, we're distant howls from the various wolves trying to reform their patrol. Steele carried on, but soon noticed that there was another wolf nearby, in the general direction that he was running.

Siku.

Steele tried to stop, but ended up running full force into Siku, throwing her tiny body a few meters away.

She barked and whimpered as she flew through the air and hit a tree with a thud.

"AH, what the hell!" Siku said as she got to her paws and realized that she could not stand in her front left leg. Luckily, it wasn't broken, just hurting. The event also threw Jenna ahead of Steele and she too, hit the ground face first.

"Well, I think I need to work on brakes..." Steele said, smiling, but turned it off and decided not to laugh.

"Are you okay Siku? Jenna?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Jenna replied, shaking her head, as leaves and dirt fell from her body.

"Why would you run into me..." Siku said, still a bit pissed.

"I uh, tried to avoid it. I swear."

"Yeah, sure..." Siku replied, and limped over to Jenna.

"Jenna! I'm so glad you're safe!" Siku said, completely changing her tone and forgetting her injury, she ran up to Jenna and hugged her. Jenna smiled and held her back. Siku was beyond happy, for reasons Jenna couldn't understand, Siku started to lick her muzzle and face all over. This was a bit weird to Jenna, but she figured that it was cute, after all, Siku is as young as her own kids.

"Okay okay, Siku." Jenna laughed.

"Uh, in sorry. I don't know why I kissed you... I'm just happy you're safe. I feel like I've found my lost alpha female of my pack, I'd die for you!" Siku said proudly.

Jenna smiled, but in her head she was thinking "_Siku is crazy_!" But accepted her apparent affection.

"Me... Alpha? Of what?" Jenna asked, with Siku still in her chest.

"I don't know how to explain, I don't know why I like you so much." Siku said, sounding like a cute, confused child.

"You obviously have some issues Siku." Steele said under his breath as he was looking the other way, and both Jenna and Siku snapped at him.

"What?" Steele asked as he turned to look at them.

Siku let go of Jenna and took a step back, she was still worried about Kodi... And the rest of town too.

"Jenna, Kodi is hurt... After you we're taken by the wolves, he was mad. Last night another dog was killed; Serif and I think he's had enough. He ran into the forest, at night..." Siku said, struggling to explain, as she noted the worrisome look on Jenna's face.

"I ran after him but wolves caught me and knocked me out, I don't know what would have happened to me if Kodi didn't save me. He's a hero!" Siku said exitedly.

"Oh Kodi... What is wrong with that boy... Where is he? Is he okay?" Jenna said worried.

"He fought off a wolf by himself, and... He fell down from his injuries... I don't know if he is okay." Siku said sadly.

"No... How bad was it?" Jenna asked, on the verge of crying.

"The wolf bite him deep in the chest, I think he passed out from blood loss. I left him with my father, Mason." Just then, Jenna's eyes widened as she recognized the name.

"Mason..." Jenna said, and with it, she was lost in her memories as the three of them started to run back to Nome.

Jenna, flashback.

**Thought it'd be interesting if Jenna knew Siku's father.**

Jenna was out like she always was. Happy to have been adopted by her new human owner, Rosie. As young as Rosie was at the time, Jenna was a tiny puppy herself. She was two months old, much too young to be playing where she was... At the forest edge. The day was gradually passing by, and soon the sun would set behind the white, expansive frozen Bering Sea. Jenna, on the other hand, didn't seem to care. She was enjoying her little adventure, and the first time she was ever let outside alone. Though, unknowing to her, Rosie had no idea she escaped.

Jenna was laughing by herself and jumping up high, to land on the soft wet snow below her, playing like a fox. As she got low, preparing to jump again, a sound made her froze. Something was watching her, in the darkness if the forest beyond her. She turned her head in curiosity, wondering what the sound was, but then trend her head back and ignored it.

Mason

Mason watched from a distance, he had just set out on his first hunt alone, told not to come back until he brought something to contribute to the pack. He was far from home... More than 100 miles west of his packs den... His dad was the pack alpha, and he wanted to find something to impress him.

Mason was just a pup himself, at 7 months, it tradition that he set out alone to hunt, and bring food for the pack to prove his worth. And as the alphas son, he would have to try his damn hardest so he didn't taint his father's reputation. At this point, he was lost. 3rd day in hunting with nothing but random scent trails of bison and elk, but nothing more than scent. Human smells began to fill his nose as he was nearing a rather large settlement of them, Nome. He wandered over, hiding in the trees. His puppy fur was wearing off, and a new gray white coat helped him hide in the snow.

There was something else near him, another canine, but this one didn't smell like a wolf, it almost smelled... Dirty, mud, filthy and plain right disgusting wolf smell. It was a female husky named Jenna.

Mason watched this dog, how it seemed to be different, but was playing like a normal pup would be caught. He didn't know about domestic dogs or even much about how the humans took his ancestors captive and altered them to their own selfish needs. To him, this was just another wolf... A strange wolf. He continued watching, planning on talking to the "wolf", and maybe get some advice. Maybe this "tainted" wolf knew where food was. Mason didn't like where he was standing from, so he very quietly snuck closer, to hide behind another, equally giant-trunked fir tree, but he mistakenly broke a branch that let out a loud crack. He froze and dropped to the ground as Jenna stated into the forest. He she could not see him, but he was staring at her. Not even ten seconds after she heard the sound, the dog turned away and continued playing.

"Why am I hiding? I should just go ask her now." Mason thought.

He got up now and emerged from The treelike at a normal pace. He found that, even though he was older than Jenna, she was still almost as tall as he was.

"Uh, hi." Mason said awkwardly.

Jenna snapped around and stared into the wolf, fear causing her to whimper, and made Mason felt terrible for scaring her.

Jenna

Jenna figured it was time to get home now, but a voice came from behind her before she could even turn around.

"Uh, hi" she heard an low voice say from behind her.

She snapped around and stared, there was a grey-white wolf, larger than she staring back at her. She was shocked, but did not jump because she was scared of wolves. She was two months old, and I those two months, she never had a reason to fear them.

"Hi there!" Jenna said happily in her high pitched voice. Mason smiled back, happy that he didn't scare her.

"I was wondering if you've seen any elk or bison around here." Mason asked, not exactly something that any wolf would usually do.

Jenna turned her head in confusion.

"What's elk and bison?" Jenna asked.

"Oh, they're big animals, food." Mason explained.

"Animals are food? haha I eat Iams, they don't look like animals." Jenna innocently explained.

"Iams, huh?" Mason figured it was some type of food that the humans fed to dogs, and figured he'd have to he had to move on.

(**Note: I am not sponsored by Iams lol)**

"Well, young one, I must take my leave now." Mason said, and bowed his head to her before waking back into the forest.

Jenna watched him, all the way until he disappeared behind the darkness of the forest, before developing a smile and running after him.

"Hey wait mister! Come play at town, the humans would give you Iams!" Jenna offered.

"Haha, I don't think I would like these so called 'Iams'" he replied without turning his head.

"Well, the butcher sometimes has food for dogs and maybe you will like it."

"Butcher?"

"He's a man that kills chickens and other animals for their meat." Jenna explained, and even though I was a terrible subject, she seemed almost happy to explain it.

Mason thought about it, "_Food is food_."

"Very well, young one, I'll walk with you back to the town, as long as you think it's safe. What's your name anyway?"

"My name is Jenna!" She replied with a small jump.

"Mason."

"Mason? I like that name, you sound like a warrior!" Jenna exclaimed.

"Haha, I suppose so."

They talked the whole way back to Nome, with Jenna breaking Mason's expectation that she was going to be an annoying puppy the whole time; she actually had a normal conversation with him. Mason also exceeded Jenna's expectation that he would be wearier of entering town, but unknowing to both of them, the fact that Mason was a wolf, meant that he was not allowed into Nome.

"So you live that far away? Why did you leave your family?" Jenna asked.

"It's customary for wolves who reach adolescence to leave the pack alone, to hunt, and bring something of worth back to the pack. My dad is the leader of the pack, so I want to make him proud."

"That's great. I don't think I could go anywhere alone, I'm too scared of everything." Jenna said. Mason chuckled at her innocence, she reminded him of his younger sister.

The two were behind the building that everyone knew as "the one that is all alone" as it was a single building, more than 100 feet from another.

"I smell food..." Mason said to Jenna.

"Yes the butcher is a nice guy! He will give you leftovers if you beg" Jenna explained.

"Me? Beg? Like hell I will." He said.

"What's wrong with begging? You can get everything you want if you ask nicely."

"I don't know about how you were raised, but dignity is a very important thing, and I intend to keep it."

"What's dignity?" Jenna asked, sounding out the word, trying to mimic his words.

"It's the measure if honor and respect, I you keep your dignity, you keep honor, and by extension, respect of your fellow peers." Mason explained.

"That's boring..." Jenna replied.

"Haha, perhaps we are just from two different worlds, Jenna."

"Yeah! Your world sounds boring though..." Jenna innocently replied.

"Hey, we have lots of fun in the pack!" Mason playfully argued.

"Like what?" Jenna asked.

Mason spent the next few minutes, explaining wolf culture and eventually, what the wolves did for fun. Jenna was locked on his every word, interested in such a different lifestyle than hers.

"And of course we wrestle and chase each other all the time."

He turned and smiled at Jenna, who was smiling back. It was all too obvious; by her facial expression what she was going to do next. She growled for a second before snapping playfully at Jason, and then the tiny red and white husky ran off down an alleyway.

"Ouch, hey! You get back here!" He said with a laugh, and then proceeded to run after her. He caught up to her easily, and planned to let her had her moment, and slow himself down a bit, but he didn't have to do that. Jenna looked back at him and teased him a bit, before running faster.

"_Whoa, this dog is fast!"_ Mason thought. He was running near-full speed and was barely able to keep up with the dog. He did not know that Jenna was a pure red husky, a dog literally breed for running.

Mason chased her past buildings, and eventually into the Main Street... Where many people gasped and yelled in horror.

"Wilson! Get the gun! A wolf is chasing Rosie's dog!" A lady screamed in panic.

Neither Mason nor Jenna heard it, and continued playing. He seemed to ignore the humans, though he should be terrified, but something took him over. A prey-drive overtook him, and all he could focus on was chasing Jenna. He was still in a mindset string enough to know that he wasn't supposed to actually kill and eat her when he caught her, but perhaps the urge to chase this dog was just as dangerous for him.

A man named Wilson was armed with his double-barrel Damascus-Steel Remington shotgun, and he slowly loaded two shells into the barrel. Not in any rush, since he knew the wolf wasn't going anywhere soon.

"I'll get 'Im girl, go get Rosie." He said to his daughter.

"Okay okay!" She replied. The girl was not much older than Rosie, and was in the same Christian early class that Rosie attended. She ran quickly to the Jones's home and opened the door, not caring to knock.

"Rosie, Rosie! Jenna is in trouble!" She yelled. Rosie dropped her toys and ran out side with her.

"Jenna girl! Where are you?" Rosie called out. She heard tiny barks coming from her puppy and watched as Jenna turned a corner, running for Rosie. But she didn't make it, and was jumped at the last corner by Mason.

"Haha! Got you now!" Mason said.

Jenna laughed playfully, and tried to throw him off with her back legs. To them, it was all innocent playing around, but to the horrified looks if several humans, plus Rosie, it looked like this wolf was about to kill Jenna.

"Jenna!" Rosie yelled and ran to them.

Mason noticed the many humans staring at him, and snapped his head around at a loud sound... A gunshot.

Wilson had shot to the left of them on purpose, in an attempt to scare Mason off of Jenna, so that he could shoot Mason without accidentally hitting the dog.

"What was that!" Mason screamed, terrified.

"I don't know! Run!" Jenna yelled.

Mason froze, staring down at the barrel of Wilson's shotgun aimed at his face.

_Click._

Mason closed his eyes, preparing for something to happen, but nothing did.

"AGH! Damn gun, always jammin' up" Wilson said, hitting his gun.

"MASON! RUN!" Jenna yelled at him, knocking him out of his trance, as she was still pinned under him.

"Uh..." Mason stammered for a second before bolting off behind a building.

"Get 'em Will!" A man yelled off at him.

Wilson dislodged the defective shell and reloaded two more into the chamber. He ran off down the alleyway and ores a shot at Mason. He yipped frightened, but thankfully was not hit by any of the shotgun scatter.

Jenna watched in horror as the scene started to progress in slow motion, like the world around her froze on that very point. Watched, as Mason looked back at her for a split second.

The man quickly cocked the gun and fired a second shot... This time he satisfied his shot, and as quickly as things happened, Jenna still watched the scene in a trance, a wolf was just shot before her eyes.

Mason fell with deathly whimpering at the far end of the alleyway.

"Nooo!" Jenna yelled as she ran to him now, slipping the hands of Rosie.

"Jenna get back here girl!" Rosie called out, but Jenna had other plans.

She quickly ran and jumped at Wilson's back, and growled at him, threatening to bite.

"Whoa girl, don't jump at me when I've got my gun loaded." Wilson playfully said, more to Rosie than to the dog. He continued loading his gun a third time, preparing to end Mason's life.

Jenna wouldn't allow it. She ran over to Mason now, and lay on top of him.

"J-Jenna, what... are…" Mason struggled to say, he was still crying in pain at his gunshot leg, and was close to blacking out now.

"I won't let them kill you!" Jenna said as she shielded his body with her own.

Mason seemed to say another word, but Jenna could only watch him as his eyes silently closed and his body fell limp.

"Hey, uh, Rosie you might want to get your dog. Wolves are dangerous, she isn't safe. Plus, she's blocking my shot at the wolf..." Wilson said to Rosie as she ran past him.

"No! Don't kill the poor wolf!" Rosie yelled back at him.

Wilson looked over to the towns' people and shrugged his shoulders. It wasn't every day that action like this occurred, and almost the entire town was on Main Street now, watching Wilson like he was a celebrity.

The town vet watched, seemingly thinking to himself, as he brushed his beard with his hand, before he spoke out.

"Wilson, lower your weapon. This wolf is not dangerous, why else would a common housedog risk herself to shield him?" Dr. Osnik explained.

Dr. Osnik is a well-respected doctor - the only one in Nome - and is very good at what he did. He claimed to be able to work on any living animal, from humans to dinosaurs if they existed. But of course, he was only _legally_ specialized in veterinary practices. Still, in a town that depends on sled dogs, plus having the highest dog:human ratio of any city in Alaska, Dr. Osnik is pretty much even more important to the town than the mayor.

"Very well, Doc." Wilson replied, and removed the shells from his gun and handed it and the gun to his wife. She seemed a bit relieved that Wilson wasn't going to kill the poor animal, and happily walked back inside with the gun.

"Great, now I have to save the poor guy..." Dr. Osnik sighed.

"Sorry, I'll help carry him if you want."

"Yes, come now." Dr. Osnik said as he quickly walked over to the two canines.

Jenna growled at the approaching men, but stopped when she recognized the vet, whom she knew meant no harm to any animal. She did not move from on top of Mason.

"Now now, girl. We're going to help him." Dr. Osnik said in a soothing voice.

Jenna obeyed him and whimpered in sadness, but trusted his word.

Wilson knelt down and nudged at Mason, who hollered out in pain again as his leg shifted. The shotgun shell had not hit, but only shrapnel was enough force to break his bone and tear apart the surrounding meat and tissue. The snow and his snow-like fur were both stained with crimson red blood.

Wilson hesitated, but proceeded to pick the wolf up. He expected at least a growl, after-all, this was a wild animal he was picking up. But Mason was silent, for he had blacked-out. Either from the loss of blood, or the actual pain, that shifted his brain into hibernation.

"Poor guy, he's fainted." Dr. Osnik said as he examined the woods back leg while Wilson held him up.

"Come now, to the operating room." He motioned Wilson to follow.

Wilson got a better hold of the 60 pound wolf he was carrying, and in the process splattered blood on himself. He didn't care, but it scared Rosie, who cried and hugged Jenna tight.

Wilson nodded to Rosie, he felt a bit bad for what Rosie had to see. She didn't respond, and picked up her own dog then walked back home.

Jenna looked off of the side of Rosie and watched as the two men walked down the alleyway, towards the vet. When Rosie got home, she let Jenna down and for a second, Jenna thought about running back, but she knew he'd be alright, and running off, making Rosie worry wouldn't help anything. She whimpered as Rosie closed the door behind them, and Jenna joined Rosie in playing with her dolls.

Dr. Osnik

"Are you sure you can you work on him, doctor?" Said the intern.

"I can work on any animal! Be it wolf or dog!" Dr. Osnik proudly explained.

"Close the curtains on the front door. I will not let anything short of an emergency interrupt me."

"Very well. I must say, you are a very committed veterinarian, sir." The intern replied.

"Yes yes, but this is also a challenge for myself, to prove that I can heal anything!"

The intern smiled as he saw the expression on the man's face as he talked in a hard German accent. He might have been a bit crazy, but not the intern or anyone else would dare comment about it, for Dr. Osnik really was the best at what he did. The intern did not for a second doubt his ability to heal this "wild-animal"

For the next two hours, both men worked on the wolf, first literally having to clean shrapnel and a other junk inside his legs. Then they worked on the leg like a normal broken dog leg, something they did at least ten times a year with how hard the dog-sled teams' Mushers worked them. They straightened, and had to break it again to get it the right way, then when the bone was formed correctly, there was still work to be done before a cast could be put around it.

Finally, they needed to repair and close up his leg. The shotgun blast all but completely stripped the bone of flesh, and it would be a miracle if it healed completely.

A few more hours passed, and at this point the intern spent most of this time napping on the bench in the corner, while Dr. Osnik, concentrated as ever, continued his work.

The doctor finally snapped his bloody latex gloves off and threw them in the waste bin. Job well done and Mason would awaken any time now.

Mason, first person. Awakening.

I awoke to a slur of a world; everything looked like it was behind a plastic cover, distorted by the drugs in my system.

What is this odd place? Who are these people, and what have they done to me? The last thing I could remember was pain. Pain, and a loud explosive sound behind me. There were other sounds, like Jenna and her human owners' screams, but they were nearly inaudible by a louder, more chilling sound.

I remembered hearing my leg snapping, literally hearing the shrapnel rip my back leg apart, and forcefully break through bone. After that, I heard a high patch screech, which I guessed must have been the pain overloading my brain, and it was simply unable to process anything else. As I fell for he ground, I felt something take hold of me, like I was meant to die there, but was released, and instead left to suffer. It is set in the past now, but through the blinding, I could hear them talking about me.

"He looks perfect, well done sir." The intern said.

"Ah! He's awaken now, I do not know how much morphine a teenage wolf should receive, so I gave him the dose of a normal adult dog. Looks like it worked haha!" As Dr. Osnik said this, I felt his hand brush against my side. The touch was filtered again, due to the drugs coursing throughout my veins, but it felt calm, peaceful, like he meant no harm to anyone.

"_Maybe these humans aren't so bad."_ I thought, but was quickly drowned out by the echoing noises perceived by my drugged brain.

"He'll rest for a few hours, and then we'll call up Rosie and Jenna to see him." Dr. Osnik said.

"_Good, I want to lay here and enjoy this wonderful time."_ I thought, though it was the drugs that said that. I was enjoying the 'high' it gave me...

Jenna, Siku and Steele, present day.

Jenna snapped out of her flashback as she saw a familiar place. Nome.

"Yay, we're finally home!" Siku said. I noted how happy she was, and I was happy myself that she considered it her home too.

"And hey Jenna. I think I see someone you'd like." Steele said with a smile.

Jenna squinted and looked in the distance, and saw Balto walking with Doc and two others away from his boat, on their way back into town.

"Balto... I'm finally home." She said quietly to herself.

As the three got within a mile of Nome, Jenna smiled, jumped up, and figured she'd try something that would defiantly get Balto's attention.

"Hey, Siku. Help me out a bit." Jenna said with a wink to Siku running alongside her.

Siku smiled as she recognized the obvious gesture.

Jenna howled in a similar fashion to when Balto marked his return from the serum run. Siku joined her, and harmonized with a higher pith howl, both finishing at the same time, with Steele looking surprised at them, and even more surprised, was Balto. At this point, he howled in return and ran to meet them half way.

Once they got close, Siku and Steele slowed to a stop and watched with a smile as Jenna pretty much collided with Balto, flipping him in his back as she stood over him.

"I have returned, my love." She said as she nuzzled his neck.

"Jenna… You have no idea how happy I am to see that you're Okay. I'm so glad you're ... You are... Okay, right?" He said as he returned her nuzzle, making sure to kiss her in return, he then began to check around her for injuries, as if she wouldn't have known if her own body was injured…

"Of course I am, thanks to Steele." Jenna said as she looked back.

"Oh, uh." Balto looked awkwardly at Steele from under Jenna's back legs, and slipped out from under her.

"Well, Steele, you crazy dog, I don't know what the hell motivated you to change, and actually help someone for once..." Balto said, Steele just stared at him, not exactly expecting that kind I\of response.

"But thank you, I don't know if Doc's crew would have even come close to saving her... One bad move and..."

"They would have killed her as soon as they sensed someone was there to save her..." Steele completed his sentence in a low tone.

"I..." Balto sat there with his mouth open. He didn't exactly know what to say.

Instead, he walked up and extended his paw out in front of Steele. Steele got the message and smiled as he shook Balto's paw.

"You're a good man Steele, I think we'd make great friends." Balto said with tears in his eyes.

"Likewise." Steele said with a smile.

Balto returned to Jenna and licked her a bit, simply grateful for her return, but turned at Siku's whimpering. She was obviously holding herself back, and it seemed to tear her apart.

"Okay Siku..." Balto said.

As soon as he said that, Siku ran up and nuzzled him, joining him and Jenna in a group hug. Balto smiled at Siku's cuteness, but seemingly snapped back to reality.

"Siku... You're here, what about... Where's Kodi?" He struggled to say.

Siku stepped back and seemingly thought what to say.

"He was injured after fighting off the wolves that hit me... I hope he is alright..." Siku said, leaving out a crucial part.

"What? Where is he?" Balto asked, worried.

"I left him with my father, Mason. I know he'll do the right thing and take care of Kodi... But I don't know if he's... Any better..." Siku said as she lowered her head.

"What do you mean?" Balto asked, and joined Jenna in a curious stare.

"He's fainted; I think he lost too much blood... It was horrible, so much if it just kept flowing..." Siku struggled to recall the events of that terrible night.

Balto looked down now as Siku returned to his side, then he looked back at his boat, before looking at Jenna.

"Alright... Jenna... I'll get Kaltag and Nikki, and you get Dixie and tricksy to keep you company at my boat with Boris. Doc and a few dogs are staying there as sentry, and it's the safest place to be..." Balto said.

"Balto, I don't need that much protection..." Jenna said with a smile.

"I don't want to take any chances." Balto said calmly as he faced her.

Balto paused for a second, and then shook his head.

"And Steele?" Balto turned to him now.

"Don't fret lobo, I'm going with you." Steele said.

"Sounds good to me." Balto replied with a smile.

The sun was starting to set once again, the snowy field the four were in; quickly got dark and the suggestion that was feared came up.

"It's getting dark..." Siku said.

"Yeah? What of it?" Balto said with a hint of aggression.

"Balto, nobody here is saying you're afraid of the dark... It's just that we shouldn't risk going out into the forest, let alone ten miles into it, at night. Plus, you know we need to be here in case of..."

"Another attack." Balto said quietly.

"Siku. You're sure Kodi is safe with your father?" Balto faced Siku now.

"Yeah, I can, uh, sense it. Plus I kinda told him that I love Kodi..." Siku said shyly.

"Aw, that's cute." Jenna added.

"Hmm. Let's hope your father is as proud of you as I am." Balto said with a smile.

Siku smiled back at him, as the four of them began to move, loud, booming thunder echoed across the landscape I the distance.

"I guess that's another reason not to go..." Steele added.

"I suppose we should make our way to my boat... I'm sure we all use stories to tell." Balto said.

"Nonsense, we can all stay at my place. Warm, comfortable fire, soft carpet, DRY..." Steele said, comparing it to Balto's boat.

"We need to be with the sentries in case of another invasion."

"Fine, but you're letting me tell my story first." Steele said.

Balto chuckled and turned to walk to his boat. Jenna and Siku sticking to his sides, and Steele walking slightly ahead. They picked up the pace a bit in order to avoid the storm, and the same crash of thunder they heard, was also head by Kodi, 20 miles to the North, as he woke up, being watched by an unknown wolf.

* * *

**Well, there you have it. Jenna and Balto are re-united, Kodi survives, Balto has completely "forgiven his enemy" and made friends with Steele, and, for the time being, the town of Nome was at peace.**

**This is actually part of chapter 7, but more like the "second half" as I typed this all supposedly to be the 7th chapter. But I wouldn't upload a 24,000 word chapter, that'd just be overkill.**

**Enjoy your storytime Balto, Jenna, Steele, and Siku. And let's hope Kodi and Mason get along, and hope for Kodi's safe return. For there is still imminent danger soon approaching the little town of Nome, Alaska.**


	9. Father troubles

**Day 7**

Kodi.

Kodi was lying on his paws now, staring out into the chaotic storm as he patiently waited for Masons return. He wasn't actually hungry, but he wanted him to return so he could ask questions. He recognized his smell... It matched Siku's… But it also matched the wolves he fought off that nearly killed him and Siku.

He starred out into the wild beyond, the landscape stretched far, at least a full mile from the cave entrance, to be met by thick forest. Where this cave was situated, Kodi could easily see above the distant tree line, but it didn't matter, he could not see anything that could hint to where he was. As far as he could see in the distance, was a tall wall of snowy white mountains. If he could see ocean, it'd mean he was near Safe Harbor, and he knew that it was only ten miles west of Nome.

He turned on his side now, as his deep cut was healing, it still hurt like hell. He whimpered for a bit as he struggled to lie on his side.

"I miss you already, Siku... I feel lost without you." Kodi said aloud, and even he felt embarrassed at how cliché that sounded.

He could not see far in any direction, night was starting to wash over the Alaskan outback, and the thick storm clouds above that dropped many billions of raindrops over the landscape made it even darker. Kodi thought about Siku more, and it got to the point where he stood up, and considered running off in hope of finding his own way back home, but as he took a step, he was reminded if what pain his chest wound could cause, and as he shifted it about, it sent him crashing to the floor, yelping in agony. This was one hell of a bite mark.

Kodi lied there for a bit, flipping in pain yet again, as he caused more damage to it by simply taking a few steps. He knew he wasn't going anywhere for a while, and wondered when Mason would return, and thought about the wolf, out there hunting in this storm.

Mason, first person, out on the hunt.

I smiled at the kid before I left, I had offered him to come as hunt with me as a joke, and I think he got it.

As I set off down the ridge preceding the cave face, I started to run through the rain. I loved it, for once; it was warm and actually felt comfortable, aided by warmer winds blowing in from the Bering Sea to the south.

At this point, it was my 5th attempt at scoring an arctic hare and ending in failure, either due to them burrowing away, climbing trees, or simply hiding their annoying asses in the snow with their near-perfect camouflage.

"_Annoying little bastards, they aren't worth the energy_." I thought, and decided to set my sights in a much larger prey. Elk... I can smell them, just 100 meters west of here, so I decided I'd take my chances at that.

When i got there, I hid low to the ground, using the storm as cover, and walked very low and hid behind the trees. I spotted three adult elk, and one calf.

"_Perfect_."

I got a little closer, anticipating my attack, and smiled as I could feel my instincts taking over already. I stepped on a branch and froze, but in the cover of the storm, I still continued undetected. I figured I had stalled enough, and came out of hiding with a loud roar. Naturally, they ran off, and I ran after them. But I had not intended to chase down any of the three adults, I got what I wanted, the adults to run off in fear, leaving their calf defenseless.

"_What sloppy parents_" I thought as I slowly chased the calf, it was a futile effort on its part, since its parents were nowhere to be found, and all it could do was run, but outrun a full grown timber wolf like myself? Ha.

I eventually got bored and jumped on it, having to reach higher. It may have been a young elk, but it was already taller than I was, but it didn't make it any harder to take down. With one bite to the back I the neck, the elk collapsed, and I had won the chase.

I let go of its neck and closed my eyes, praying to Aniu, thanking her for a successful hunt. This seemed foreign to me, it's been such a long time since I prayed to the white wolf spirit, and of course, I had to keep it hidden when I was around Nehalem and the rest of the pack. Even though everyone around me seemed to worship Amarok, this was not true for a majority of them. Only Nehalem actively confided in the teachings of Amarok, yet the rest of the pack secretly kept true to Aniu, and I was no exemption.

I lay down to enjoy my kill, skinning it before eating. After about half an hour, I was stuffed. It's been about four days since I last ate, so I made up for that, and also stored extra. I enjoyed my meal in the torrential downpour, and didn't care; besides, this calf would be too large to drag all the way to the cave in full anyways.

I dislodged both hind legs of the massive animal for Kodi, and still struggled just to carry that, then I started of back to the cave, proud of my successful hunt as a _lone wolf_.

Kodi and Mason.

Kodi was lying in the same spot all this time, still struggling to fight off the pain. Then, he remembered what helped last time.

He struggled to stand, carefully trying to not shift his chest and chase more damage, then he walk over to the puddle and stared at it.

Kodi cringed a bit at it, the once clear water was a pale red, tainted with at least a full pint of his own blood. He figured he should find cleaner water, and where else to go but outside during a hurricane? Settled on his decision, he walked out into the warm rain and wind.

"Wow, this is great..." Kodi thought as the soothing water flowed through his red and white fur.

Kodi took a few careful steps out of the cave, and quickly realized that I wasn't easy at all to walk out here.

The warm winds and rains melted the snow and it formed dangerous slurry of melted snow and mud. It caused Kodi to slip.

Kodi fell with a loud yelp of pain even before he hit the ground with a noticeable watery splash.

Kodi fell just as he caught sight of Mason, returning to the cave with a huge prize in his mouth. Mason dropped it and ran to help Kodi get up.

"Hey, Kodi, where are you trying to run off to?" Mason said with a chuckle.

"Nowhere apparently oww." Kodi replied.

"Heh, then let's get back inside. I've brought something better than rabbit."

"Okay then." Kodi said, holding a face of pain.

The storm was not letting up in the slightest. Constant downpour was accompanied by constant thunder and lightning. As Mason helped Kodi stand, clouds above let lose whatever it was charging, a huge bolt of lightning and with it, a huge crack of thunder.

Both Mason and Kodi jumped and yipped for a split-second at the explosive sound.

"Haha, you scared of thunder boy?" Mason teased.

"Hey, you jumped too!" Kodi said and they both laughed.

"Ah, well, talk about the big strong wolf that's afraid of thunder..." Mason said with slight embarrassment.

"Joke about the big strong sled dog that's afraid of thunder..." Kodi said sharing his self-pity.

As the two passed the wall of water at the cave opening, they stayed quiet for a second before Mason jumped back up and walked outside. Kodi watched him slowly head for the food he dropped earlier and bring it back to the cave. When he got back and dropped the food by Kodi, he shook the water out of his fur, sending it back on Kodi, who laughed a bit at it. Mason faced him now; he had a question for him.

"What does that mean, "sled dog". I've heard... Others talk about it." Mason said, leaving out any names, such as Nehalem.

One of Nehalem's previous speeches mentioned a team of sled dogs, and them risking their lives to be slaves to the humans. Even getting stuck in a blizzard for it. Mason figured he'd get his own answer to this seemingly stupid way that dogs would subject themselves to, plus he figured there was much to learn about these dogs.

"Some dogs are trained to help the humans deliver mail, it's sort of like longer-range howling that humans use to send and receive messages. We dogs are trained to pull wooden cartridges called sleds many miles through the snow." Kodi explained, and Mason could see huge pride showing in this dog.

"What weird creatures you dogs are..." Mason said quietly.

"Humans fed and care for us, I don't mind to help them with things like that, since they can't help themselves." Kodi added.

"I guess I can understand, it's a mutual relationship in which you both work together to survive." Mason finally said.

Kodi looked down at the soggy raw, still bleeding Elk legs before him, and his face involuntarily turned into one of disgust.

"Something wrong?" Mason asked.

"No, no. Just that... Well..." Kodi struggled to say.

"What?"

"I don't know how to eat this..."

"You've got to be kidding me... Are you dogs really that stupid?" Mason said, but even though it was meant to be an insult, Kodi knew it was mostly playful joking.

"I've eaten elk meat before... The town butcher would sometimes throw out cuts of it, but this... I don't know." Kodi said as he nudged the leg with his paw.

"Fine, I'll show you."

Mason got down on his belly, and Kodi did the same.

"Grab that other leg and copy me."

"Okay." Kodi replied, and then brought the second leg to him like Mason.

"What you want to do is strip the skin off like so." Mason said before ripping the skin off of the leg with ease.

Kodi hesitated, but as his stomach growled, reminding him how hungry he was, he proceeded to do the same. After checking again, he tore into the furry flesh and attempted three times to grip it just right, then used his paw to hold down the leg as he ripped the skin off of it completely.

"Good, now dig in, but watch for the bones, they can splinter up and I you eat it, and, well, there isn't a promise that the bones won't come out as easy as they went in." Mason said, hinting to his hindquarters.

"Ouch..."

Mason smiled and nudged the second leg over to Kodi too.

"Eat up, I'll go keep watch for now, but I've got something to talk to you about soon." Mason said as he turned and began to walk away.

"I've to some things to ask you too, if you don't mind." Kodi said.

"Of course you do." Mason said, then continued walking.

Kodi watched him walk up to the cave face, stopping, then sitting just a few inches from the wall of water that dropped down over the cave entrance. Mason continued to stare out into the wilderness, as memories if his past started seeping back up yet again.

Mason, flashback, first person. Siku.

"Papa?"

I shook my head, snapping out of a trance. It's been almost a full month now, and I watched Siku open her eyes, ears, speak her first word, and today was the day I finally let her out of the den and explore the wild forest around us.

This was quite possibly the happiest part of my life. I was a single father, too busy raising Siku to look for another mate. I don't think I could do it anyway... I feel like it'd be disrespectful to Katja.

But another wolf _was_ standing by my side, watching Siku as she sniffed about for the first time; my old friend Scion. He was around much more often now, and pretty much lived with us. He claims that he's being a good friend and keeping me company in a tragic time in my life, but we both knew it was because he fell in love with Siku just as much as I had. It could also be in part, due to his parents finally getting on his ass about leaving the pack and finding a mate, so he figured he'd hide away at my house for the time being.

We did find another family for the other two pups, and although it pains me, I felt that it would be better for both me and Siku if she was an only child.

Me and scion smiled as Siku played in the snow, jumping around and yipping in a high pitched puppy sort of way.

"So I guess I'm your mate now?" Scion joked.

"You-" Mason said as he turned, but found that Scion was mere inches from him with a seemingly flirtatious smile on his face.

"You know I'm focusing on Siku for now... Plus, I don't think it'd be right. Wolves mate for life..." I lowered my head as I said the last part, looking back up at Scion and shoving him away softly.

"I don't think Katja thought the same way..." Scion said with a low tone, barely audible.

"What did you say!?"

"Nothing you don't already know..." Scion replied, holding his stance.

His comment alone made me furious, but a few seconds later my entire expression changed, and Scion picked up on this.

"Just... Don't talk about it." I said in a low tone.

"No! Katja cheated on _you_! You need to stop denying-" I jumped Scion now, teeth shown.

"What the hell Mason! You know I'm right!" Then scion threw me off with his hind legs.

I stood here now, not knowing how long, staring him down, but he did not show aggression. Scion was right. Any sacred bond that wolf culture would express, was already split long ago by my late wife.

"Papa, why are you sad?" Siku asked in the cutest voice.

As the tiny voice snapped me back to reality, I forced a smile, as I did not realize that my face was a face of sadness, even though I thought I was showing aggression towards Scion.

"It's nothing Siku..." I replied in a soft tone, then, as Siku walked off, I turned to Scion.

"Nothing at all..." I said with a smile.

I turned my back to Scion as Siku played off to the left, and seemingly thought for half a minute. Scion sat patiently and watched over Siku.

"What do you think about introducing Siku to... Hamoura?" I asked Scion with a smile.

"Hamoura? You don't mean..."

"Yes."

"But you haven't talked to her since... You met Katja..."

"I talked to her the night of our ceremony."

"Huh. So why talk to her now?" Scion questioned.

"She's single, right?" I asked with a turn of his head.

"Aha!" Scion laughed as he finally caught onto what the hell I was getting at.

Kodi and Mason, present day.

"Ow, damnit..."

Mason turned an ear towards Kodi.

"Damnit!" Kodi muttered quietly again.

Mason sighed and stood up, Kodi saw him walking over and already started to speak, but Mason cut him off.

"Let me show you."

Mason came to a stop over Kodi's food. He was frustrated by a bone not separating and always would snap back at his face. Mason knew this already and helped Kodi better enjoy his meal.

"Grab that side." Mason motioned Kodi to hold down the bottom portion of the leg.

Mason nodded once Kodi grabbed a good place, then with a brute force, twisted and strained the bone, breaking the knee joint with a loud snap.

"Oh, thanks."

"No prob kid."

Mason turned now, listening to Kodi rip apart his meal and snapped about at it behind him. Once again… Mason was lost in his memories.

Mason and Scion, flashback. Decision day.

"You sure Siku is safe with your sister?" Mason asked Scion.

"Of course she is... You know how long she's wished for a child of her own? The only thing we need to worry about is this meeting..."

"Yeah..."

Mason and Scion were both nervous. Siku was nearing a month old now, and Mason considered moving away, to find a place where he and Siku would be safer.

He had to... Ever since that little challenge about two months ago, from some yearling almost overtaking the pack, everyone has been a little unstable. The current alpha was getting old, nearing in his 9th year. The yearling was a newcomer, once referred to as Nehalem. He was banished a month ago after the incident, but he knew that the pack wanted him to be leader instead of the "old fart" currently in charge.

Today was the day, at nightfall the alpha was stepping down, and a new leader would be chosen. This new leader would be the change Mason would use to decide whether or not he should leave. The yearling, on the other hand, Nehalem was nowhere to be found.

Once Mason and Scion got closer to the main den, where the decision would be made, a friend of theirs came up to them.

"Hey! Well, if it isn't the two honeymooners. You guys sleeping in the same bed together yet? Haha." Drago teased.

"I'm working on it." Scion whispered to Drago with a paw covering the right of his mouth so that Mason wouldn't hear it.

"You both are retards…" Mason said with a serious face.

"Yeah, in all seriousness… Mason has been hanging with Hamoura!" Scion said with an up-lifting spirit.

"Wow, Mason, are you really moving on?"

"It's what Katja would want…" Mason said.

"That's not all she wanted…" Scion whispered to Drago.

"I will kick your face in Scion if you don't shut it…" Mason said angrily, while Drago and Scion were both smiling and having a good time.

Scion closed his mouth and the three walked over and joined a few others as they sat and patiently waited on the edge of the small crowd that listened to the soon to be retired pack alpha speak.

It was nearing night now, and an address from the former pack alpha would be what everyone was waiting for.

The event got the attention of the entire pack, plus all orbiting sub-packs. Some traveling over 20 miles just to attend this meeting. It's been nearly 5 years since the pack alpha was chosen, and this time it was a huge turnout, with 183 wolves from many different packs and counting.

The pack operated somewhat democratically, a few of the best wolves who thought they had a chance, were said to address the pack and try and get their approval. All members of the pack would then vote on who they chose.

"I know in the past months… Some of you have heard rumors… Some of you believe that I am no longer fit to run this pack, and I am not here to disagree with any of you. I am nearing 9 years of age, and now it seems that only my spirit is in a fighting stance, while my wisdom continues to build."

The entire forest lay silent as the wise old wolf spoke out his words with such depth and meaning that his speech alone caused a few wolves to regret ever doubting his abilities.

"We will choose a new leader today… And I will guide him as his advisor, a role that I am more than happy to play…"

Nobody made a sound… All eyes were locked on the old wolf as he stepped down and whispered to another wolf that stood beside him.

It was so silent that when a certain wolf chose to show his face again, everyone turned and stared at him, Nehalem.

"Nehalem… What in the hell do you think you're doing here?" The alpha yelled.

"You were banished last month… Never to return again. Do not make me send my guards after you." He added.

Nehalem did not say a word, but continued to walk up the ledge and came to a stop ten feet from the old wolf.

"Go ahead and try me old man…" Nehalem snarled.

"Guards… Seize him!" The alpha did not hesitate to command.

Three wolves came armed with teeth and claws planning to destroy Nehalem, but he just sat and smiled.

"Oh man, this should be fun to watch." Scion nudged to Mason on his left.

"Haha, yeah…" Mason replied, though in the back of his mind, he sensed something terribly wrong…

"Something is wrong here… Scion, I have to go… I need to check on Siku."

"Fine, Mason. But you're going to miss some action!" Scion said.

Mason turned just as he heard a loud roar emit from Nehalem… No… Behind Nehalem.

"Your time is done Old man!" Nehalem said, and with it, a huge shockwave seemingly came from nowhere and knocked everyone off of their feet.

Demonic laughter came from the dark forest beyond and dozens of demon-controlled wolves came from the trees, completely hidden. The pack erupted in screams coming from mothers as their children were killed by them…

Children, pups, anywhere from newborns, to as old as a year, were brutally killed off as it was the main objective Nehalem had set into place.

Nehalem smiled as the pack alpha watched in horror in front of him. The guards jumped Nehalem now, and with a single snap, they died instantly. Nehalem had the aid of a supernatural being and in order to fulfill his physical duties, Nehalem needed a pack of worthy soldiers.

This, unfortunately for the pack, meant that all children and other weak members of the pack would be killed…

Everything happened so fast, to Mason, the world around him slowed. He watched, one mother cried out for her child, but only just then did Mason watch her child get ripped in half a few seconds earlier… Mason panicked, and looked at Scion.

"We need to get out of here!" Mason yelled.

All three of them ran off now, joining another dozen or so who were lucky to escape, but it wouldn't matter. Seven of Nehalem's wolves quickly ran infront of them, and began growling at them, not attacking, but still not permitting anyone to leave.

A voice came from all of them, and it resonated, seemingly originating from each one's mouth that never moved.

"You are all to return to Nehalem to be judged, whether or not you live is his decision."

They repeated this many times, as one wolf tried to escape, he was killed by the demons.

Mason and Scion agreed along with the others, and turned back to the den.

Nehalem stood now, on his perch, right next to the former pack alpha as he stared with tears in his eyes at the event that just unfolded before him.

Nehalem looked over the now, re-forming pack of wolves before him. He counted 120 or so. 60 of them were either children, or too weak for his plans.

Many of them were barking mad and growling at the demons, while others just cried at the loss of a loved one, or simply in shock at the event.

Nehalem waited a few more moments as a last group of 4 wolves were forcefully returned to the pack now.

"You see what happens when you defy me… Things are going to change. This is my pack now, you are all my slaves. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Stick with me, and follow my teachings, and you will be forever rewarded by the great and all-powerful.

Amarok…"

Just then, Mason growled and stared Nehalem down.

"Mason… Stop… Stop man, you don't want to get killed…

Present-day

Eventually there was only bone left, Kodi had barely touched the second leg, but he was more than satisfied with this meal.

He stood and walked over to join Mason as he sat at the cave face.

"You seem distressed?" Kodi asked.

"Siku… I hope she's safe in this storm." Mason sighed at the end.

"We can only hope… She'll make it back in no time, and with my dad and the others protecting her, she'll be just fine" Kodi assured him

"She really loves you, you know?" Mason said.

"I love her the same… And I know you love her too…" Kodi said hinting to Mason.

"How did you know already?"

"Figured. Plus you guys do look remarkably similar, also you're a 4 year old wolf that is "friends" with a wolf pup…"

"Haha, yeah… I suppose it isn't that hard to tie together… Wait, do you really see my resemblance in her?" Mason asked curiously.

"Of course. You guys are both small for wolves, that's one give-away."

Mason growled slightly and lowered his head.

Kodi instantly realized the mistake in saying that, but chose to move along.

"I can only imagine… Siku said that she was abandoned by her parents when she was a month old… I can only imagine being forced to leave your daughter behind, and then you finally find her a year later…" Kodi sighed. "And then she runs off yet again." Kodi said as he placed a paw on Mason's shoulder.

"How did you know I was forced to leave her?" Mason asked. Kodi saw his eyes begin to water, but he knew a man does not cry without a good reason, and chose to respect it by ignoring it.

"You're a good man Mason. I can tell. I know you wouldn't leave your daughter unless someone or something literally ripped you away from her." Kodi said with a keen voice.

Mason sat quiet for a while now, both of them staring out into the rain in front of them. Kodi perked his ears as Mason began to speak.

"It was... Terrible… Siku was just a month old… My little girl... The look on her face when I told her to run... To leave me behind." Mason struggled to say.

"Go on. I'm listening." Kodi turned to him and Mason turned away now, hiding tears.

"Those… Demon assholes…"

Mason, Flash-back. Siku plays a game.

Nehalem was talking to the former leader, surprisingly in a non-aggressive sort of way, as if he was _asking_ to become the next leader.

Mason stood there shaking his head; he saw many of the demons leave in search of there that may have tried to run.

"Siku..." Mason said to himself.

"Mason... You can't do it... Siku is safe, don't worry! The demons won't even find-"

Just then both of the focused on a scream that came from another pack of four or so wolves that the demons have brought back...

"Oh no... Sis!" Scion yelled out.

"I'm fine! Mason! _It_ is safe and sound! Hidden behind the place where we first kissed!" She yelled out in an encrypted form so that the demons didn't catch on.

"Wait, kissed?" Scion asked.

"Yeah, uh, me and your sister had a thing years ago." Mason said.

"Huh..." Scion said with his mouth open.

"Scion I have I get to Siku..."

"How the hell are you going to do that?" Scion questioned.

"Do something crazy?"

Scion was already shaking his head, ready to talk Mason out of it, but mason was already gone...

Scion watched as mason jumped up and launched at Nehalem, successfully knocking him down the ridge - a full 20 foot drop - and landed on Nehalem, using his body to soften the fall for himself.

Everyone was silent, as Nehalem stopped moving now, dust cleared from the two, all staring at Mason as he stood over Nehalem's motionless body, breathing heavily. Cheers could be heard, and mason used this time to run off. The demons did not chase him, seemingly lost their own consciousness and returned to normal. Mason was already gone, but Scion got a first-hand account on the transformation.

One wolf, one that actually hit Scion just earlier, fell to the floor and began to shake his head. He instantly began to apologize to everyone and had tears in his eyes.

"What the hell...?" Scion thought.

"Hey, guy! What's going on here?" Scion asked, but the wolf did not reply, instead he ran off into the forest, panicking and crying a bit, traumatized at the deeds he was forced to do and had to watch, trapped, a prisoner of his own mind.

Mason had only one thing on his mind - to get to Siku - and he was not going to stop running until he got to her hiding place.

Everyone that surrounded the pack den, Nehalem and the former pack alpha, we're in tears. Nehalem had sent his wolves out and killed their children, and he was not going to get off easy.

A group of wolves were growling, furious, and ready to tear apart the unconscious wolf. Drago and Scion joined them, and ran to Nehalem's body.

Right before any of them touched Nehalem, a huge explosion ten feet above knocked everyone back, burning a few of those unluckily enough to be closer.

Nehalem was being protected by Amarok.

Nehalem shot his eyes open and jumped up, obviously furious, as he began to look around for the one who attacked him.

"Where is he!" Nehalem roared, and the entire pack fell silent. His voice seemed to be on loudspeaker, amplified by each and every one of his wolves.

"Speak! Where is the one is called Mason!"

Nobody said a word.

"Fine... I guess I'll have to knock it out of you all!"

And with a few commands, every controlled wolf surrounded the pack and threatened to kill them off.

Scion looked at one wolf that he recognized. The demons had taken his wife away and were going to kill her.

"Wait! Not my wife!" He spoke out, and turned to Nehalem.

"I know where he ran off to!" The wolf added

"Oh shit..." Scion thought to himself. He recognized the wolf as a friend of his sisters and he knew where mason was, and where Siku was hiding...

"Good..." Nehalem said as he walked up to him.

Within seconds, fifteen of Nehalem's wolves ran off in the direction Mason was going.

"Oh man Mason, you better run..." Scion thought as he considered jumping the three wolves that were guarding him to go and help Mason.

Mason was tirelessly looking around the small den near the waterfall. Him and Scion's sister dated a year ago, and shared their first night, and their first kiss here, among "other things".

"Siku!" Mason whisper-yelled.

"Papa?" Siku answered in her tiny voice.

She emerged from a thick bush on the other side of the shallow stream.

Mason smiled and ran to her.

"Siku..." Mason didn't want to scare her, so he chose not to tell her the truth that she was in real danger.

Mason opened his mouth to speak, but he heard howling and barking from behind him. The demons were here to get him, to take him away, and he knew it. Taking Siku and trying to run away would not work as they'd easily track him down, and in the process, most likely kill Siku... Mason had to think.

"Papa? Why are you sad?" Siku asked the same question again... Bringing tears to Masons eyes. He looked at Siku, and thought for a split second...

"Siku! Lets play a game." Mason said with a staggering voice, as he was sure he'd never see her again.

"I want you to run along the stream, as far, and as fast as you possibly can. Pretend like I'm a scary monster that's going to eat you!" Mason said with an intimidating growl.

Siku playfully laughed and growled back.

"Run now Siku. I will give you a head start... I love you."

Siku stopped her playful jumping, and she seemingly got smart. She heard the wolves approaching, saw the pure terror in his father's eyes, and noted him saying that he loved her in a voice full of despair and pure fear. She knew she was in trouble.

"I love you too papa! I will run... Run as far as I can and as fast as I can."

Mason smiled at her as a single tear rolled down his muzzle.

"Good... Go now!" Mason shouted.

Siku nodded and ran, ran like she never ran before. She got to the edge of another waterfall and took a second to stop and look back. Mason sat there, not watching her, but watched as the wolves emerged from the tree-line and surround him. Siku cried at the sight, but remembered her word. She would try to get as far away as possible, and with that thought, she jumped down the waterfall, 50 feet to land in deep cool water. Luckily, she knew how to swim. She got back on land and started running again. Not knowing where she was going, as long as it was away from that place, away from danger... Away from her father.

Mason closed his eyes as he knew what was next for him. He'd be executed on the spot, and he wasn't going to try and fight off fifteen over-powered demon wolves.

He waited, as they surrounded him, growling, snarling, some taking snaps at him, but they weren't biting or fighting.

He looked around now, as a few of the wolves moved to let Nehalem through.

"Ah, Mason? Is it?" Nehalem asked.

Mason did not reply.

"I did not enjoy your little attempt at being a hero back there..."

Mason continued his silent stare as Nehalem circled around him.

"I _could_ snap my fingers and have these guys tear your skin off first, then break bones later, but instead, I've got a job opening I suggest you'd take upon. I could use a wolf with your... Spirit." Nehalem chuckled, he had the face of pure evil, and in this light he even looked more like a Jackal rather than a wolf.

Mason matched his stance to Nehalem's, "I'll never work for you..." He kept a mean state into Nehalem's own eyes, considering trying to kill him right now.

"You don't have a choice... Not if you want your little girl to continue her game. Perhaps I should send a few wolves to go and "play" with her." Nehalems smile never resided.

Mason growled in frustration, but ended it and looked to the ground at his feet.

He was defeated.

* * *

**And now, the tale of how Siku was separated has been told. This chapter was pretty much dedicated to Mason and Kodi, although you also got to learn about the history behind the supposed "evil" wolf pack. The relationship/connection between Mason and Kodi is important, and will come into play pretty soon.**


	10. The morning before & pack troubles

chap_10

**Addressing the chronological failure:**

FIX: Siku is the same age, 11 months. Kodi is a little younger, considering that I doubt Jenna _**birthed**_** him the night of the serum run (but I don't doubt they "created" Kodi that night :DDD). Siku **_**was**_** a pup, at four weeks, when she followed Balto thinking he was her dad, and witnessed him and Jenna fight off the bear from the first movie. THERE. EVERYTHING FIXED WITHOUT CHANGING TOO MUCH!**

Balto, first person. Home.

Balto, Jenna, Siku and Steele walked along the outskirts of town with the storm behind them starting to pick up now, and a light downpour began to wash over. The light over town was a low, dark blue color, bright enough to still be considered day. The lazy town of Nome still had its few busy bodies, briskly walking from building to building, saying hello to everyone, as everyone knew everyone. Kids were outside still, playing in the now- melting snow, with their respective parents scolding them to come inside. It was still a bit dangerous to be outside during a large storm when it was still this cold.

The end of the storm could not be seen as far out into the Bering Sea, no break in the cloud cover either. In a time before satellite imagery, nobody in Nome knew just how crazy a storm that they would have to endure, for it was one that could easily destroy and flood the entire valley.

Balto looked to Jenna and smiled. Jenna didn't see him, but she felt his kiss on her cheek. Jenna blushed a bit, but did the same a second later, followed by a bit of licking.

"Jeez guys, get a room..." Steele muttered.

"Maybe later..." Balto said with a laugh.

"Ugh, Balto..." Jenna said, then joined him with a light chuckle.

Siku kept silent, but she seemed to be thinking hard.

"Siku? Something wrong?" Jenna asked. She seemed to instantly detect the other female in distress, when neither Steele nor Balto would have caught on.

"Uh, nothing... Just worried about Kodiak..." Siku replied.

"Kodi? You worried about Kodi... He takes after me, remember? A simple bite wound won't stop that kid!" Balto said, more for Jenna and himself.

All stay quiet for a few seconds, and continued their walk, with Balto still showing how happy he was that Jenna was safe. Every few steps, he'd look at her and smile, sometimes with Jenna returning it, sometimes she missed it. Either way, it made Siku think a lot. Think about Kodi, if she really loved him, or was she just lonely? She went with the first one. She did feel good just being in Kodi's presence, then again, she also felt the same way around Balto.

"_I really do love Kodi, it seems_." She thought. How would their future be like? How responsible of a life-long mate would Kodi be?

"_He's a sled dog! One of the most respected of the team, and even made it to lead dog! He's obviously responsible_." She continued to reason with herself.

Siku looked up now, just as Balto snuck another kiss to Jenna. She seemed more or less annoyed by it, but she still smiled.

There was pure love between these two, and Siku often wondered if she would ever find love like that.

"You know... You and Balto make an adorable couple. If I didn't know any better, I would have though you were two yearlings falling in love." Siku bleeped out of nowhere, earning direct eye-contact from them.

Balto and Jenna smiled back at her.

"Yeah, well. Jenna isn't exactly that hard to love. She is my dream girl, considering I e never dreamt about any girl this beautiful." Balto said.

"I only wish to be able to find love like the love you two share. Kodi is great and all..." Siku cut herself off. She didn't even know what she was trying to say.

"Having second thoughts about this whole love thing?" Jenna asked.

"No, no. I love Kodi... Just... Something else."

Jenna gave a look to Balto, and instantly, he got the message. This was girl talk.

Balto walked ahead, and motioned Steele to walk up. He and Steele sped up ahead to let Jenna and Siku talk.

Jenna smiled at Siku, which helped her think better.

"Everything's happening so fast... Just a week ago I was all alone... Then Kodi comes all out and tells me he loves me, next thing you know, he almost gets himself killed." Siku paused.

"Kodi is a good kid. I should know, I raised him after-all. What makes you think that he will stop at nothing to make you happy, make sure you're safe... Make sure you're the only thing in his world worth living for?" Jenna talked to Siku with strong words. She knew how love was, but if there was a problem Siku had with their relationship, there wasn't much she could say. She'd have to talk to Kodi on her own.

"The only problem I have is Dusty. Kodi and she were mates... But I feel like he left her for me, and that just isn't right..."

"Oh her? No no. I'm sure for a fact that Dusty wanted to break it off with Kodi. If they ended it, it was on Dusty's terms."

"Well, she isn't exactly around to ask..." Siku said.

"Yeah... Poor girl. It's been over a week and Kaltag still asks people if they seen her."

"Another thing you should note, dogs are different than wolves. We do mate for life, but early on, like humans, we can "try out" different mates until we find one that is just right. I don't know much about wolf culture, but surely you get a choice at least? Dogs aren't much different.

Siku nodded her head as they walked, still brewing thoughts in her mind. They stay silent for a few minutes.

"I feel like I was forced to say it... Only now have I finally been able to think with a clear mind... I'm not sure if I really love Kodi, or did I just say that because he was on the brink of dying in front of me..."

Jenna smiled and looked at her.

"You love him."

"I really can't be sure unless I can talk to dusty first..."

Jenna and Siku watched as Steele playfully shoved Balto, and overheard their laughter. They seemed to get along now and were sharing a funny story, meanwhile Jenna and Siku continued walking in silence.

"Ah... Young love... You guys are only a year old!" Jenna said.

"Most wolves find a mate when they're two." Siku added in a low tone.

"It appears that dogs move a little faster then... We usually find mates as young as 7 months." Jenna said, putting a different tone on the word "mates".

"Yeah, well... I've already learned how to be a dog, I walk with dogs, I play with dogs, and I fight against wolves. I might as well start young like a dog too." Siku said.

"Yeah, and don't wolves usually go in heat around spring time?" Jenna said with a dirty smile.

"Wow, Jenna!" Siku laughed.

Balto and Steele turned back as Siku said "wow! Jenna!" Then they both laughed, at what? Neither Steele nor Balto would ever know.

Steele was just telling Balto about the time when he tripped chasing him and slid into a pile of barrels. They both laughed about it, followed by yet another apology from Steele.

Eventually the rain started to really fall, and the four were forced to run now to the boat, which was another half mile or so away.

When they reached it, Balto nodded to Doc and the rest of the dogs put on sentry, as they retreated to the lower deck.

"Man... I never thought I'd be here..." Steele said as he lay down next to the doorway.

"Come on in Steele, you don't have to keep watch." Balto offered.

"Nah, I'm fine. You guys get your rest." Steele said.

Balto looked to Jenna and Siku, who were already snuggled together.

"_Man, Siku really is a sticky little wolf." _Balto smiled at his thoughts. Siku really seemed to stick to him, Kodi and Jenna a lot.

Balto curled up next to Jenna and licked her nose before turning over. Jenna smiled and lay on his back, both fell asleep quickly. Siku, on the other hand, had a problem...

The storm was really pouring, causing the sentries and Doc to hide in the drivers' box of the boat. They couldn't see anything at night and through the thick downpour anyway. A huge flash of lightning was accompanied by a loud crash, and roar of thunder. Siku jumped and began whimpering, hiding her face in-between Jenna and Balto.

Balto opened his eyes and watched Siku as she really struggled to keep still. Her body was shaking, her fur was standing up along her back, and she was making a high pitch whimper.

"Siku?" Balto asked.

"I don't like thunder..." Siku said quickly.

"Aw, it's okay..." Jenna said half-asleep.

"You... Afraid of thunder?" Balto asked.

"Ever since I was little."

"Well, isn't that cute." Jenna said.

"Hey... I-" Siku began to argue, but jumped and barked at another thunder clap.

Jenna chuckled and offered to comfort her, but she shook her head and instead, walked over to the other side of Balto and snuggled with him. Balto shrugged his shoulders and looked at Jenna, who smiled back and lay her head down. Balto and Jenna found it cute that the same wolf who took down a bear, saved Kodi, and killed another wolf, was afraid of a little thunder.

Balto yawned, he looked to Jenna and smiled, then to Steele, who nodded back, then down at Siku, who was huddled in fear, before he thought about Kodi. He hoped he would be safe, but Balto was still happy for Jenna's return, and admittedly, happy for Siku's return. For the first night in the past few days, he could sleep, and sleep easy.

Balto would sleep easy, but he was going to meet someone for the first time.

Balto's dream, first person. The meeting.

I could feel... Nothing, not even a floor under my paws. I was floating... Floating where? I could not _see_ anything either.

I heard a voice come from my left.

"Balto..."

I turned to the source of the sound; it was a barely audible whisper, scary, almost.

"Come towards me..." Continued the whispering leading off to an echo.

"Siku?" I asked, but once again, no sound came from my mouth.

At this point I was all too familiar with _what_ this was, but I didn't know _where _this was.

I followed the voice, and somehow ended up floating towards it, the lyrical whisper from someone that I could only identify as female, and nothing more.

I began to slowly fall and finally reached a flat surface, but the ground I was standing on seemed invisible. Two new canines formed before me; Jenna and Siku.

"Oh no, what is this now?" I asked.

"Choose one to fight by your side..." I heard the same whispering entity say.

"W- what will happen to whom I don't choose?"

I was given no reply.

I gulped then looked at the two. Both Siku and Jenna were blankly staring at me, following my moments with their pupils, and not a single other form or indication that they were actually living beings.

On both sides, I had to think of. Siku was a great fighter, and I did not want to lose Jenna. On the other hand, I'd stick by Jenna's side through the end, and I know she will do the same...

I made my decision and walked over and sat in front of Siku. She slowly blinked and moved her tail, seemingly coming back to life. She began breathing heavily and shaking her head, then began to say something. I watched Jenna's form disintegrate to the left of Siku, and closed my eyes in shame, but I knew Jenna would understand.

"Balto?" Siku asked as if I she wasn't sure it was real either.

"Yeah... I-"

I was cut off as the entire world changed views, and I found both me and Siku a few feet above the ground as we were literally thrown out Ito the wild. Both me and Siku hit the ground and rolled a bit, luckily the surface was a deep, untouched 2 feet of white snow.

The setting around me seemed familiar. We were in a forest somewhere, nothing that I could recognize directly though. Familiar trees rose high above and branched out into the canopy above, the snow between my paws a familiar cold and melting now. Once again, this entire place reminded me of home.

"Ouch... They could have given us a softer landing..." Siku said as she licked her forearm.

"Where are we?" She added.

"I have no idea... I can't really detect anything familiar." I said as I sampled the air.

"I smell wolves!" Siku said fast and scared.

"I smell them too... They're getting closer."

"Uh oh... We should go..." She suggested.

I nodded in agreement, and we started to run in the opposite direction. Siku ran ahead and I looked back to make sure we weren't being followed, not watching where I was going, I crashed into Siku, who stopped herself because of what was in front of her. My jaw dropped as I took in the scene before me.

We seemed to have entered the den of a wolf pack, thirty or so, with one big, and not exactly friendly looking wolf standing above them all. Not only was he, but the entire pack staring at us.

"Oh crap." I muttered.

Siku whimpered and turned to run away, but two wolves jumped in front of her and started growling. I expected Siku to whimper and run to my side for safety, but she was apparently _full_ of surprises.

Faster than I could comprehend, she jumped both and started an all-out fight to the death with them. I watched for a second as Siku ripped one wolfs neck off, then, not only ten seconds later, flipped the other wolf and killed him too. I stood there dumbstruck as Siku stared back at me with blood still dripping from her mouth. One hell of a fighter indeed.

A few more wolves came now, and this time I joined Siku in fighting them, but something went wrong, Siku froze right before she even touched one of the wolves. He did not even flinch as he knew what happened.

"Siku?" I asked, but I would not get a reply.

I turned now, to the apparent Alpha-wolf of the pack, who only stared me back down.

"What did you do to her!?" I yelled.

"She is fine; I only asked one of my slaves to keep her still." The wolf responded.

"Your wolves stepped in our way... Release her and we will move on. Nobody needs to fight now..." I tried to reason.

"I'm afraid that cannot happen."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"You know me Balto. Jenna, Siku, Steele, Kodi, and even Aniu knows who I am." He replied.

"How do you know them?" I asked quietly.

He did not answer, but only smiled.

"I also remember... Rosie..." He added with a devious smile.

"Nehalem..." I said under my breath.

"Yes."

I instantly growled and launched at him, releasing the rage that was built up over the past week. I ran and jumped past the other wolves, who just sat still watching, and armed my teeth, ready to kill. I was just five feet away as I felt a click, and with it, lost all control of my body. It fell limp to the ground, and something else began to _drive_ me, putting me in a sitting position in front if Nehalem.

"So, now that that's over with... I'd like to talk." Nehalem said with a smile. He commanded the demons to release me. A green spirit left through my right ear and shot toward the sky, and I fell to the floor, panting frantically. I got up and continued growling, but held back this time.

I stared him down with pure hatred in my eyes, as he stood there just smiling back.

"Now, I've got a bit of a proposition that you'd be interested in hearing." Nehalem said.

I did not respond.

"Speak wolf dog!" Nehalem yelled.

But I continued my stare. He stared back now, ending his smile, as he tried to decipher my thoughts.

"Your boy. Kodiak, isn't it? He is not back home safely with momma, isn't he?"

I stayed silent.

"What if I were to... Pay him and Siku's father a visit?"

"No...What do you want?" I asked, not breaking my stare.

"My slaves tell me everything, Balto. That you've got sentries at far ends of the forest, that you've rigged various alarm systems... You're preparing for something…" He continued to circle me now, and came to a stop in front of me.

"You're preparing for a war." He added with a flat face.

I did not respond.

"Why?" He asked.

"We will fight. You've killed our people... An innocent little girl! Then you kidnapped my wife!" I yelled and launched at him, but he simply hit me aside. I flipped over and tried to stand up, already feeling woozy, and jumped at him again. This time he stepped to the side, causing me to fall over the twenty foot drop and hit a pile of rocks pretty hard.

I held back cries of pain as blood started pooling in my mouth, having hit my muzzle pretty hard. I tried to stand, but fell, and discovered that I was also dealing with a broken front paw from the landing. I was still pissed, determined to kill this wolf right now, but that would be difficult to do in my current state. It didn't matter though.

Nehalem laughed and called for the demons to take over my form. Once again, I tried to fight it off, but it was a futile effort. They forced me to stand, then walked me all the way up, and around the cliff side back to Nehalem's perch. Each step causing a huge burst of pain that I was unable to express. I was a mindless zombie walking back to the top of where I jumped off of. The demons returned me to a sitting position in front if Nehalem and then released me. I instantly hollered in pain at my broken wrist that the demons carelessly forced me to walk on, but I fought it off and stared back at Nehalem.

"I can see you aren't in a talking mood, so I'll make this quick."

"There does not need to be a war. You're the one we want, you're the god child of Aniu, you're the human sympathizer, and you're the disgraceful wolf hybrid with tainted husky blood. Turn yourself over and your family, your town, everything else, will live on."

He proposed a tempting offer. To sacrifice myself just for the well-being of Jenna, not to mention everyone else I love.

"How can I trust you?"

"You're still alive aren't you?" Nehalem replied instantly.

"So why not just end it now? Why not just kill me while your demons can hold me still..."

Nehalem smiled and pointed his nose to the sky.

The sun disappeared and the sky became pitch black, without a single star.

"This is your world Balto. Turn yourself in right now, before sunrise."

I opened my mouth to speak, but something hit my head, seemingly knocking me back into reality.

Balto, first person. Late night talk

_"Holy crap it was a dream..." _I thought, but this time it wasn't as much of a surprise.

Nehalem's message was clear... Even if it was only a dream, he seemingly knew everything about our precautions; he knew how to easily sneak into the town... He knew that Kodi was stationed with Siku's father...

I sat up now and looked at the people around me. Siku and Jenna were closer together, since I was obviously not the most peaceful sleeper. Two dogs from the sentry group were taking their shift off and sleeping down the hallway. I looked at where I saw Steele sleep, he was no longer there.

"_Must have gone home to sleep, hardwood floor must be uncomfortable to a dog that's used to sleeping on a mattress..." _I smiled at the thought.

I was proud of Steele. While nobody else ever saw it, I always knew he had good in him somewhere, like... It was my responsibility to unlock his true potential.

**(Yes this is a reference to The Cool Kat's: Heritage of the wolf 3: Salvation. :) **

I sat up and yawned, it was still night, and would probably be for another few hours. I looked around the room that I've slept in as long as I could remember. Boris was sleeping on the deck below. I didn't want to wake him, but I needed to talk to someone. I smiled as Siku whimpered in her sleep with Jenna sleeping like a log next to her. Siku was obviously having a nightmare like I did; she resembled me when I was dealing with terrible things in my sleep. Her tiny legs were tossing around trying to free her from something that she could never escape. I thought about comforting her, maybe try Boris's technique and sing a soothing song in Russian. Ha, like that was going to happen. I stood, but Siku seemed to get over it, and finally was able to stay still and sleep peacefully.

"_Good job, you fight off those monsters." _I thought with a smile.

As I turned to the hall to the left and peered outside, I noticed something.

The storm seemed to have calmed down, and stopped raining.

I heard a noise from outside, quietly and stealthy, I walked out to meet it. Out on the main deck, I saw Doc and one other dog in the drivers' box, with one keeping an ever vigilant watch. He would have to watch for any suspicious activity along this side of the forest, or watch for signals from the other various sentry teams along the forest two miles east.

I nodded to the dog keeping watch as Doc slept. I turned my attention to the lower main deck, the first with direct access to the ground via a ramp. I recognized his smell before I saw him, Steele, as he sat out on the edge of my boat, in the same spot I've sat in for years. I smiled at the sight; he seemed to be peering out into town just like I would.

"Enjoying the cool breeze?" I asked quietly.

"Morning Balto." Steele replied without turning.

"So it looks like the storm has died down?"

"I suppose so."

"What are you doing up so early anyway?"

"Couldn't sleep." Steele replied in a low tone.

"Nightmares?" I asked.

"No, just." Steele replied.

This was an odd experience. Steele seemed to be struggling to speak, as if he wasn't the over-confident dog I've known for years. For once, I was in a better position to comfort him. And again, odd experience indeed.

I walked up next to him and smiled at him, but he turned his face away.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked in the best possible way I could think of and still come off as "macho" to better match Steele's apparent mentality.

Steele didn't reply, but returned his face to its earlier position, staring out into the town beyond. His muzzle was damp with tears...

_"Oh great, now Steele isn't an overly-masculine-dog, he's just a crying pup now..._" I thought.

I'd still try to comfort him though.

"Uh... Something in your eye?" I said, and instantly wanted to hit myself for such a stupid statement.

Steele stayed quiet for a while, and I turned now to stare out to the town of Nome just like he did.

"You know you're living the dream, Balto..." Steele finally responded.

"Great, so that's what you're sad about? Jealousy? Self-pity?" I said harshly.

"Don't do that shit to me... Where's the Steele I used to know?" I added.

"I know... But it's not... That..." Steele replied in an annoyed voice.

"Then what are you crying for?" I asked quickly.

"I'm not exactly crying..."

"Okay... Why the manly tears, then?" I said with a smile."

"That's better. Heh, I would have killed someone if they saw me crying before..."

"And that's what it is. For years I've just been... Me! It's... All I know... Now I've seen how horrible I was, and I'm supposed to just change and hope that I live a happy life knowing what I used to be? That _was_ me... This isn't." Steele added.

I thought for a bit, while Steele sat silent. I didn't realize how much this troubled him. Sure, he's better now, hell, I'll even consider him a good friend, but something like this... I've never dealt with. How do you change your whole image and mentality and still be "_you"_?

"So what are you saying?"

"It's nothing. No offense to you, after all this is your boat, but I did kinda come out here at 2 am for a reason..." Steele said as he turned to me and lightly smiled.

I could see the internal struggle in his face, it was cold, emotionless, yet the fur on his muzzle was still moist with fallen tears. I knew this face all too well. It was one that I would have seen if I looked in my reflection anytime during the first three years of my life.

"You want to be alone with your thoughts… I understand." I pat him on his back and turned to walk off.

"You know... I've spent many, many hours in that very same spot, doing the very same thing." I said as I walked off.

"Hey… lobo?" I turned with a smile as he used his name for me.

"What do you want Steele..." I replied playfully in the same matter that I did all those years when he would call me by that name, though, it usually mared the beginning of a fight.

"Do you really think I can change? Do you think I'll find love like you and Jenna share? Do... Do you think I'll even find someone who cares about me? Someone who... Doesn't just care about medals, awards, or, how much I can lift... Do you think I can be... Like you?" Steele asked desperately.

Once again, I got his signal, he really needed someone to talk to, something I needed too when I was in the same condition. I always had Boris to talk to... Meanwhile Steele practically has nobody...

I turned with a smile and walked back to him.

"There's a simple answer to all of that: Hell yes."

Steele chuckled softly and nodded.

"Seriously..." He said.

I still smiled but looked down a bit, focusing on a point on the ground 15 feet below us.

"I always figured you'd turn around. Who knew it took a bear and the white wolf spirit to get it into your thick head for you to see it."

"I suppose so..."

"As for someone who cares about you..."

Steele turned now and looked at me, he knew it.

"Apart from you nearly killing me several times... I've always felt like we shared a bond. Like... A brotherly bond. If you we're ever in real trouble, you know I would spring into action and save you, even if just a few seconds later you were trying to kill me off. I care about you. Jenna cares about you. Your owners care about you. Man, when I saw the looks on their faces as they thanked me for saving you... Not to mention the pure happiness they had when you recovered from your injuries..."

"Yeah... They were the only ones who I could turn to that night when you saved the town... Oh god those kids would have... I thank you personally, for kicking my ass and saving those children..." Steele laughed a bit at the end and playfully shoved my shoulder.

I let out a long yawn that meant my body needed to sleep, but I could not sleep now.

"Gettin' tired there?" Steele asked.

"I can't sleep... Steele, I had another dream..."

"Oh great, what is it this time..."

"I met Nehalem..." I stopped myself before saying more.

I wanted to keep Nehalem's little deal for me to turn myself over a secret.

"Really? What did he say?"

"Not much." I lied.

"I met him too, got to sit in on one of his monumental speeches. This guy really hates dogs!" Steele explained, saying "monumental speeches" funny.

"Yep, and he hates wolf dogs even more."

Steele seemed to say something, but we were interrupted by loud thunder rolling in from the sea.

"Balto?" I heard Doc call from the other side of the boat.

"What's up?" I replied as Steele and I turned to talk to the three dogs before us.

"Looks like the storm from earlier has an older brother. Frank here thinks it's a category two. We will have to bunker down in the lower decks, is there room to accommodate us all?"

"Yes, there is, but if Frank happens to be a meteorologist, it sounds like we'd be better off somewhere where the roof and walls aren't already falling apart..." I replied.

"Alright then, in that case, I recommend we keep safe in the old mill. Frank volunteers to keep watch through the storm. Who's to say the wolves don't have a plan to invade during a hurricane?"

"Good man, Frank."

He nodded in reply. I think he looked like a Samoyed. That's kinda rare.

"You three go on, I'll wake Siku, Jenna and Boris."

"Very well." Doc replied.

He shot a look at Steele, still not exactly on good terms with the dog after he nearly killed off half the population of Nome. Steele lowered his head in apologetic response, but after everything that's happened, obviously Doc was not nearly as forgiving as Balto.

"I'll uh, stick with Balto." Steele awkwardly replied.

"Maybe it's for the better..." Doc muttered under his breath.

I jumped down a deck to where Boris slept, and woke him, warning him of the impending hurricane we might be facing. I still wanted to talk to him, but now was not the time.

Then, down a singular short hallway into the main room where we slept. Jenna and Siku were still snuggled up, with Siku ending up lying on her back, paws in the air, but still deep asleep as ever.

I looked at Steele and smiled.

"They're so adorable, I can't wake them..." I said.

"Oh come on..." Steele replied.

"Balto... Lets just take our chances here. That Frank guy obviously seems to think that he can man this storm, why can't we?"

I got it instantly.

"Okay fine, you still don't want to go into town... Big baby." I replied.

"Yes. And Doc doesn't seem too friendly..."

"Well... In his defense-"

"I know what I did damnit." Steele cut me off.

I yawned again and finally agreed with Steele. I returned to my spot next to Jenna and Siku, still sleepy as ever, I plopped down next to the two. It was just us four plus Frank now. Steele finally actually entered the room and chose to lie down on the other corner.

Both me and Steele fell asleep quickly, the rolling thunder soothed me to sleep, and I figured it had the same effect on Steele. Siku on the other hand did not enjoy the hurricanes song.

Kodi and Mason, trouble comes a-knockin'

I listened to Mason tell his story about Siku's escape, and couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor wolf... I couldn't bear the thought of having Siku leave, and I've only know. Her for a week! This was Masons daughter...

"Ah, well, Kodi... It's getting late. I think I'll lie down now... All this depressing thoughts need to end. Wish I had some liquor..." Mason muttered the last part quietly.

"I'll watch out for a bit, I'm not exactly tired... And what if Siku comes back?"

"Very well then." Mason said as he turned his head over.

The smaller wolf fell asleep quickly. I watched out over the horizon, and guessed it was about 10 pm. The massive storm showed no signs of dying down, and it was really tearing apart the forest. Trees fell; the valley flooded, and in the distance a landslide could be seen on the far mountain beyond the forest. I thought about leaving on my own, but there was no way I would do it in this weather.

Eventually enough time passed, it was probably midnight by now, and I yawned, signifying that I was tired. I sighed and walked over to the other side of the den, and curled up to sleep. My bite wound still hurt when I moved it, but my night would have been spent suffering much worse if Aniu didn't help. I thanked her once again in my mind for that.

I watched Mason as he seemed to be running in his sleep. It seemed like everyone was having nightmares nowadays... But something equally as scary could be heard in real life, something Mason also heard.

A wolf howl.

Both me and Mason instantly perked up, Mason seemed much more worried.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Oh no... This is bad... The north patrol from our pack is here... That's their call signal. I have to answer them and go meet them and hope that they don't smell you..."

"Kodi... You have to run. As soon as I go down to talk to them-". Mason explained, but was cut off by another howl.

"Nehalem..."

"You get the hell out of here Kodi!" Mason yelled as he ran off and out of the cave.

I could sense how worried he was, even though I've only known him for a few hours. I crawled up to the cave face, and noted that through the dark was and heavy winds, not to mention the huge amount of water that dropped in land every second... I was safe from being detected here.

Mason ran quickly past the treeline and met the wolves with a howl. I watched in the distance as he howled and barked at the group of wolves, and decided that now was the time to sneak out. I ran off in the opposite direction, and didn't stop until I came to a river. Thankfully, I recognized it as Mountain Side River, and it leads about ten miles to meet with Snake river, then after that it was another 15 miles...

"_Man, I really got far... Or maybe Mason dragged me far..._" I smiled at the thought of the smaller wolf pulling me a few miles through the forest.

Nehalem, not a democracy

The pack was silent as they regrouped to hear Nehalem's address to the pack. It's been two years now and almost every day; Nehalem's would speak to the pack, preaching the word of Amarok to the group. It was also in everyone's best interest to listen to him speak, for if something happened and you didn't know what, Nehalem himself would kill you for not paying attention. The pack started with over 90 wolves. Today there was only 30 listening to Nehalem speak.

"Today we are not facing a lone enemy. We are facing a group of simple dogs who think they're safe. They've setup sentries. How clever of them... My second in command, Drakken here, will explain more of what his pack has discovered about our enemy."

The wolves were all silent as they watched Nehalem step aside to allow an equally large, black-furred wolf take a stand.

"You all know me as Drakken. The sniveling pathetic life's that dogs live, are due to the humans! It's all because of the humans. These dogs cannot be saved, but what I suggest is that as much as we want to wipe out all dogs, we also want to kill every single human we possibly can. Contrary to Nehalem's plan; I believe that we should make killing the humans our top priority!"

"Yes. I have spoken with Drakken and his team; they believe that the humans would actually make an easier target for us to fight." Nehalem added

"The key difference is that the humans are oblivious to our existence! The dogs know we are coming, and they've setup plans! Traps! Alarm systems!" Drakken said.

"This pack does not operate as a democracy, but at this time, I believe that our entire pack needs to operate together. We will vote. Humans or dogs as our main target." Drakken added then nodded to the pack before walking up a bit.

"We have eight hours. That's when the sun will rise, and I would hope that a few less humans or dogs will be alive to see it." Nehalem finished bitterly.

Drakken followed Nehalem back to his den, obviously happy that he got to speak. Both wolves entered the den and after Nehalem noted that nobody else was around, he turned on Drakken.

In an instant Nehalem was at Drakkens neck, ready to kill within a split second. Drakken was scared and involuntarily started whimpering.

"Listen here you piece of shit. I let that little contradictory statement of yours pass. Balto and the dogs are our main focus. Humans are a secondary objective!" Nehalem yelled.

"I let it go because you've proven yourself to the pack, but I wanted to kill you right there for defying my word. You think you have the authority to make such decisions?" Nehalem yelled and growled at Drakken, never releasing his death hold on his neck. Drakken struggled to speak, so Nehalem growled in frustration then threw him to the ground.

Drakken was coughing and gagging for air, but eventually found his breath and spoke.

"You can't run this alone... There's been talk. Talk that your motives are no longer the best thing to run off of." Drakken spoke out

Nehalem growled louder and prepared to charge at him, but stopped himself.

"Who? Who has been talking... Kill them off!"

"That's your problem! You run the pack based off of your apparent God-given knowledge and if anyone defies it or suggests otherwise, you kill them! Think Nehalem! Just a year ago our numbers were over 100! Now were down to 30!" Drakken yelled back. He was not afraid of Nehalem, and even walked up to him while he spoke.

Nehalem was pissed, but could not deny the fact that he was right.

He walked up to Drakken now, acting like he understood, instead he had another plan. Within a split second Nehalem bit into Drakken's neck and tossed him aside. He kicked Drakken a few times until he no longer moved...

"Nobody defies my word!" Nehalem snarled as he looked over Drakken who now lied motionless in his own puddle of blood. Nehalem walked out of the den with a devious smile on his face, he stood back on the ledge, overlooking the wolves that were already started on their daily routines and went about their nocturnal day. Nehalem's smile turned into a light demonic laughter as he knew he could run the pack now without any more nagging.


End file.
